John Osborne shares his love of radio in this tactile show. It’s linked to his book, Radio Head: Up And Down The Dial Of British Radio, which is dutifully plugged at the end (copies for a fiver). But this is also a well-crafted performance, gently reminiscent of Daniel Kitson or Josie Long.
At the heart of the story is a box of records that he won by sending off an appreciation of John Peel’s show in 2002. It spawns some eccentric artists, such as the Boyzone cover band Oi Zone, or Atom and his Package, who had to retire from the music industry when his asthma got too bad. Songs are played on vinyl with lyrics supplied on a retro overhead projector.
Into this is woven a coming-of-age story. This can be charming: after a halting but promising friendship, John bottles it when asking out his colleague Poppy to a Belle & Sebastian gig (all girls like Belle & Sebastian, he quips). The following day he is made redundant from his data entry job at Anglia Windows, so never sees Poppy again. Sometimes the material is a bit too familiar: the teenage epiphany of The Smiths makes the heart sink slightly, and the ‘hip to be square’ vibe may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
The material about radio is priceless, however. John Osborne captures the intimacy of the medium, the startling human connections and priceless stories. On Virgin Radio, he hears about Sandra, who marries a stranger for the sake of a child. On arthouse radio station Resonance FM, he tunes in to ‘Me and my floor’, a soundscape of the presenter’s living-room. And there’s some war and peace on the chat forums about Radio 1.
John Peel’s Shed is perhaps not formally innovative. However, it has a nice arc and completeness, with a professional happy ending if not a personal one. John Osborne has succeeded in plotting a path from his bedroom to community radio to publication and performance, with the help of John Peel’s box of vinyl. It’s an uplifting if occasionally twee story that makes a classic, nostalgic fringe piece.