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IF you had been asked five years ago who Jonathan Harvey was, you probably wouldn't have had a clue. Since then, however, after a string of successful plays (Babies, Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club and Beautiful Thing) the young Liverpudlian has become one of the UK's most popular and prolific playwrights. Now, after the success of the feature film adaptation of Beautiful Thing, Jonathan is working on any number of projects at once, including a new play which will be performed at this year's Edinburgh Festival.
I talk to him whilst recovering from a hangover and explain that he'll have to do all the talking whilst I grunt occasionally in acknowledgement. He responds with a laugh which brings me up short - he even laughs with a Scouse accent. Then he proceeds to talk for England.
"I'm finishing off a film for Channel 4 called Gone Shopping," Harvey explains, "and I'm doing a sitcom for the BBC called Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, with James Dreyfus [Boyfriends, Inspector Goody in The Thin Blue Line] and Kathy Burke, about a gay man and a straight girl who share a flat and are both looking for love. I hope it's going to be the new Ab Fab!"
So what about the new play?
"The new play is called Swan Song and it's a one-woman show about a teacher whose story is based on my own teaching experiences. When I was teaching, local management meant that each school managed its own budget. They had to cut corners by cutting costs so it was easier to employ young teachers with very little teaching experience than older ones that had it - I was only 21. So, this woman starts out her career and she's very PC and right-on. She does what she's told to at first. Then she notices the changes going on around her and starts moralising about it. If that makes it sound very serious and political, it's not meant to be! It's a fun night out!"
The actress playing her is Rebecca Front - better known for her outrageous performances on such TV shows as Knowing Me, Knowing You, Coogan's Run and The Day Today. Is the play going to be equally OTT?
"No, it's a bit more subdued," Harvey says. "I set off wanting to write a monologue to see if I could do it, taking my inspiration from Alan but Rebecca is a very funny actress. She's a very bright, fiercely intelligent woman. I haven't had to explain one word of the script to her.
"The play only lasts one hour and ten minutes so, after I'd written it, I thought 'Who'd want to do this?' Fortunately, at the Edinburgh Festival, there's a lot of work like that. I don't think it would work in somewhere like the West End because people want a more substantial night out."
I remark that this new play must be the first in a long while without a gay character.
"Yes, but that shouldn't put a gay audience off. There's a load of gay jokes in it! She hung around with that many gay guys at college that she describes herself as a 'gay connoisseur'. So much so, that when she was losing her virginity, she thought she was going to get it up the arse! Rebecca makes it very funny."
So, anything else up your sleeve?
"Yes, I'm writing a musical with the Pet Shop Boys. About five years ago, they saw a TV play of mine called West End Girls then began coming to see my plays and two years ago they approached me with the suggestion. It's set in the back office of a nightclub and is about the people who work there. The difference between that and other musicals is that the songs will be ones that people actually want to go out and buy. Oh, and there's a boyband thrown in for good measure!"
Any plans for a musical version of Beautiful Thing?
"No, I think it was enough of a musical as it was!"
Aah, and I was so looking forward to seeing Elaine Paige doing her Mama Cass routine...
Swan Song is at Pleasance Two (0131-556 6550), Edinburgh from August 6th until August 30th
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