Comedy Double Act Beauties Howard Coggins & Stu McLouglin from "Living Spit" Musical Theatre Company, here to "dissect their frog" on their wonderful anarchic comedy method and madness!
The warmth between the 2 is palpable and their comedy magic together a work of collective comedy genius. Howard & Stu work with a creative crack team of 5 to generate their magic together and are based in Clevedon at their home venue (which is also delightfully their "Clearing") which they also co-founded, "The Clevedon Theatre Shop"
This is their story on what has shaped them in the crafting of their impressive canon of 17 hilarious comedy musical theatre Shows to date as "Living Spit".
"Living Spit" so called because Howard is - as Stu discovered much to his delight on a day trip to Hever Castle - a "Living Spit" of Henry V111. Stu got straight on the phone to Howard - and the rest - as they say, is comedy history!
Enjoy!
More about Living Spit:
Introducing an extraordinary couple of colourful characters from the West Country, the frontmen of their own theatre company, called mysteriously “Living Spit’. Not so mysterious when you learn that Stu saw a picture of Henry VIII at Hever Castle, which struck him as the spitting image of his friend, Howard. On the strength of this striking physical similarity, the two friends decided to create their own lighthearted musical comedy about Henry and his various wives.
Howard was a shoe-in for Henry. Stu was happy to play the wives. Musicians in their teens, actors in their twenties, the two thespians created Living Spit - as if inspired by the Bob Dylan song ‘Don’t think twice, it’s alright.’
Now their company has 5 key people, including their own ‘third man’, producer / director Craig Edwards. Over ten years later, Living Spit has over 17 different original comedies to its credit and two or three more live ideas in the pipeline. These days the shows are more comedy than history. They always involve original music. The founders are now related by marriage, but not to each other. Brothers-in-law, they happily share family occasions as well as gruelling professional tours. In the pandemic, they played on camera- or rather six cameras - to an empty house at the Bristol Old Vic. This was a breeze compared with one unhappy night in Runcorn - so disappointing that they vowed never to return. And they never have. Instead, Howard and Stuart do their own thing, in their own way, then turn to Craig to help them make it work. Allowing a mere three weeks for rehearsals, they’re ready to go public with it.
The audience is the only thing that matters to Living Spit: their laughter, their delight, their satisfaction. Our heroes are happy to be the best in the West. They don’t need to prove they’re the best in the world - even though they may be. They certainly have a better work/life balance than most people in show business. It’s time to
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