Richard Strange
Writer, musician, composer, nightclub host, actor and all-round legend, Richard Strange has played a key role London’s cultural life for the last 30 years. The Sex Pistols, Joy Division and The Jam supported his first proto-punk band, The Doctors of Madness, in the 1970s. Since then, Richard has remained as diverse as he has prolific; working with Tom Waits and William Burroughs, writing numerous articles and books, and appearing in films like Batman and Gangs of New York.
Born in London in 1951, Richard first released The Doctors of Madness on an uncomprehending public in 1975. He founded the hugely influential mixed media Cabaret Futura in 1980, and has subsequently worked as an actor, appearing extensively on stage, in films and on television – including Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Inkheart and Men Behaving Badly. As a writer, he’s a regular contributor to publications as diverse as the Guardian, Tatler Culture and Travel, and Vogue.
In 1989 to 1990 he toured the world in a Russian version of Hamlet, directed by Yuri Lyubimov; then, in 2003, toured the UK with award-winning dance theatre company Protein Dance - contributing as an actor, musician and writer. He worked with Marianne Faithful (2004 – 2007) on the Tom Waits/ William Burroughs/ Robert Wilson collaboration The Black Rider, and recently performed with the producer/arranger Hal Wilner - alongside such luminaries as Tim Robbins, Shane McGowan and Suzanne Vega.
Now comes his solo show, An Accent Waiting to Happen – so dig your heels in for a Strange trip. Richard will be singing songs, telling stories and reading from his memoir Strange Punks and Drunks and Flicks and Kicks, which was published to critical acclaim by Andre Deutsch in 2005. Strange days have found us…
“Strange must surely be the funniest man in London…It is impossible to spend any time within his looming majesty without being engulfed in gales of health-inducing mirth and a sense of fraternal bohemian bonhomie long lost to our crassly commercial times.”
Adrian Dannatt, The Art Newspaper
“18 years after first meeting him, just thinking about Richard still reduces me to a state of near hysteria…and terror. He restores one’s faith in the ability of the human spirit to soar.”
James Nesbitt
Links:
- 3am magazine interview with Richard Strange
- Richard sings ‘The Headless Horseman’ at Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown Festival
Video:
Richard Strange’s video for his latest song, ‘The New Academy’:
The Cannes premiere of ‘Mister Lonely’ (2007):
