The critically acclaimed comedy Past Tents is concluding its 2023/2024 tour at the Golden Goose Theatre in Camberwell this Autumn. The brain child of award-winning writers and producers David Keogh and Seth Jones, Past Tents is a rip-roaringly funny, cathartic exploration of mental health, grief… and tents.
When Alan's (Seth Jones) car crashes in the middle of nowhere, he hopes his bad day (which started with his wife leaving him) can't get any worse – but it does. After trudging through muddy countryside, he comes across a campsite, run by the rather eccentric Virgil (Mark Keegan). With no other options and no phone signal, he has no choice but to stay.
Unfortunately for Alan, there's only one plot left, situated in between a sheep-poo bin and the rather annoying Justin (David J. Keogh). Justin appears to be everything Alan despises – a positive family man with his life in control. However, things are not what they seem, and the campsite tension escalates as they start to reveal their true selves, with hilarious and unfortunate consequences.
Past Tents deals with important universal issues: poor mental health, grief, loneliness and depression, using humour and drama. Supported by the leading men’s mental health charity MANUP?, Past Tents is the story of two desperate people at the end of their tent ropes, forced into each other's company. It's about life, death and ultimately, how people need to talk more about the things they are going through. Past Tents is about getting things off your chest – talking about small and big things that matter – because talking helps.
Ahead of the run at The Golden Goose Theatre we spoke with David J. Keogh to learn more.
What can you tell me about Past Tents?
The title took a whole day in a pub to come with, so we are very proud of that. But also and probably more importantly… Past Tents is an award winning comedy/drama play which deals with the issues of loneliness, mental health and how people need to talk more.
Alan (played by Seth Jones) crashes his car at night in the middle of nowhere and manages to find a grotty campsite, run by Virgil (played by Mark Keegan) who appears to be a lunatic. After securing the only available plot, he meets his neighbour, Justin (played by me - David J Keogh) who is very annoying – so annoying in fact, that he once came second in the world’s most annoying man contest, second only to himself. Justin’s delighted to have a new friend – but all Alan wants, is to be left alone.
Things spiral and escalate quickly as Alan and Justin clash – with hilarity and tragedy in equal measure. It’s a dark comedy that’s quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen at the theatre.
Where did the inspiration for the piece come from?
75% of the 6700+ suicides recorded in the UK last year were men – both writers have experienced the loss of people we know to suicide – in fact the play is dedicated to Seth’s friend Sean Smith, who sadly took his own life 2 years ago. We have also at times struggled with our own mental health and know what it feels like to fall into those dark places.
We wanted to write something Sean would approve of – he had a great sense of humour and we felt comedy would help reach out to people, give them a great night with more than a few belly laughs, but also get men, but not just men, to talk more about their mental health.
The play demonstrates how human connections (in this play to even the most annoying people) can help keep people tethered to something- talking is cathartic and helps more than anyone can know.
How did you approach the topics that are discussed in the show?
A lot is drawn from our personal experiences of course, but humour is a way to access the message of the play, without preaching – we tackle the subjects head on and in a brutal way – but use humour to make it palatable and accessible.
We had the script read by Manup? a men’s mental health charity, who helped ensure we got the tone right. It’s important with a subject like suicide and grief, to address it in an appropriate way.
It might seem odd to make a comedy about such difficult subjects, but it’s a very British thing the find humour and silliness in dark places and all the feedback we get suggests we got that balance right. People often stay behind after the show, having laughed and cried, to tell us how deeply the messages in the play affected them. It’s very moving and Seth and I are not too proud to admit we’ve shed a few tears after some of the feedback. It’s emotional and sometimes, a little overwhelming – but it makes every performance matter to us more than we can say.
How important is it that there is the platform for discussions around men’s mental health?
Men really struggle with this – suicide is the biggest killer of men under 55 – we have got to talk about it but also get people to talk to their brothers/uncles/nephews/friends/fathers/sons – the partners of men are often the most deeply affected by the play and we’ve been told a number of stories about how it has prompted conversations after the play that might not have happened otherwise. People don’t want to be lectured or preached to when they or people they know are struggling and a comedy play is a better way to land those messages for many.
How valuable has the support been from charity ManUp?
Manup? were brilliant when we started the play – Andy’sManClub and West Sussex Mind have also been brilliant – supporting the play not financially but in other ways – we just did a very special charity night in Goring where we raised money for both charities – we even had the town crier there – it was fantastic, but the help comes from so many places. This play is self-funded, and we don’t have a huge amount of sponsorship so all help and support, no matter what, is very, very welcome.
If the show was a biscuit, what would it be and why?
It has to be a Jaffa Cake (yes that IS a biscuit). Like Past Tents, it doesn’t cost too much to access, you consume it once and always want more. It has a soft centre (Seth, Mark and I are all softies on the inside) and you can’t get enough of them. For the record, Dark Chocolate Jaffa Cakes are the best and I will die on that hill.
Can I also add that it could be a wafer as it has many layers (this was my first choice but felt like a lazy comparison), but it is not and definitely never will be, a Garibaldi. I can’t say why.
Where did your arts career begin?
When I was 14, I performed on stage as part of a Saturday drama group -– but acting and writing was frowned upon as a career choice; I came from a working-class family and had very little outward confidence (it wasn’t an easy childhood) and I had ADHD which also made things tough – but after 25 years in the workplace, I built that confidence back up, so I gave up my career in finance and dived back in. I’ve been doing this for ten years now, having retrained and learned a lot.
I’ve always loved the arts and throw in my life experience and there’s a lot to draw upon both as a writer and actor – I’ve won a fair few awards for both now and know that this is what I believe I was meant to do – I’ve never been happier. Or poorer. Or happier.
What would be your advice to anyone who would want to be a writer?
Ooh. I have a few – where do I start? OK, here are a few. I’ll try not to preach but I read a lot of people’s scripts for them so I’ve gathered a few rules.
Write anything – even if it’s bad. The act of putting words down is the hardest bit.
Learnt the structure of plays and TV/Film scripts, because you need that as a base. Read a LOT of scripts in the genres you want to write in, (there are a lot of rules for comedy, horroretc. you need to know) and don’t be afraid to write badly at first.
My first drafts are always a bit of a car-crash and require editing, rewriting, rewriting and rewriting again. Past Tents was written with Seth Jones and it’s probably on it’s 100thdraft.
Don’t overwrite dialogue – when you edit, try and remove what you can – if it isn’t a joke, a clue or important to the plot/character, delete it.
Avoid exposition – trust your audience to work it out.
Lastly, if you’re writing a character from a different background to you, run it past someone from that background first, to ensure you are being authentic and representing accurately.
Make every character count. Don’t have throwaway characters and always avoid stereotypes.
I should also say, don’t overthink writing; ignore so called advice from writers who publish very complicated story algorithms and models and over-complicate their advice by making it look like you need a PHD to write. You don’t. Great if you have a PHD, but anyone can write – the more you do it, the better you will get. We can’t all be Oscar Wilde, but we can all tell stories.
What keeps you inspired?
I beat myself up a lot actually and have terrible imposter syndrome. I expect failure and, in all honesty, most of being and actor and writer is learning to deal with the incessant rejection – this industry is really damned tough – bit accepting rejection and not fearing it is part of the job.
In the last year I’ve failed far more times than I’ve succeeded – scripts get rejected, auditions are rejected, funding gets rejected again and again… so it isn’t easy at times – but it only takes that one acceptance, that one award nomination, that one small win… the more pebbles you throw in to the pond, the more chance the water ripple will hit something that matters.
This year, I’ve won 2 Best Actor Awards, Been co-nominated for ten awards for Past Tents, had 3 x 5 star reviews and Past Tents was just nominated for 2 Standing Ovation awards (having previously won two Cormac Richards Awards) and sold out numerous shows - those moments sing to me of course, but if I’m really honest, it’s that moment on stage when you feel the audience gripped on your every word, or when they laugh at the jokes, or when someone messages us to say how much they loved it – that is motivation enough and we know we had to earn the right for them to come and watch us. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
What do you hope an audience member takes away from seeing the show?
A sense that it’s good to talk, that we all face struggles and that people near us might be struggling too – but also, if you’ve just come along, loved the play, had a great night and felt like it was time well spent, we’ll take that too.
We have scores of Facebook reviews from people who loved the show and everyone can get something different from it. I always say the audience needs to brink hankies for their tears and a sewing kit for their sides, just in case. There’s also a little adult language and some adult themes, so bring your sense of humour and an open mind – hence it’s for people who are 16 or older.
Where can audiences see the show?
We are on in The Golden Goose Theatre, 5 minutes from Oval Station, London, from 1st October to the 12th October. We would love to see you there – in fact we’ll be hanging around after every show (they have a great bar) to say hi – we always make ourselves available to our audiences. Come along – you’ve not seen anything like this and you’ll have a great night or your money not back. See you there!
Book tickets here: https://www.pasttentsplay.com/box-office-tour-dates
Previous reviews here:
https://theatreplays.uk/past-tents-alma-tavern-theatre-clifton-bristol/
https://www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-past-tents-by-seth-jones-and-david-j-keogh-at-jack-studio-theatre-26-30-sept-2023
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