SIR HENRY AT RAWLINSON END

"Michael Livesley embodies to perfection the spirit and brilliance of Vivian Stanshall and adds his own measure of outrageous talent too. He inhabits Sir Henry and all the denizens of Rawlinson End with such deft brilliance that the audience, when it is not howling with laughter, gasps with incredulity at the sheer ‘achieve of the thing’ - if I may adduce Gerard Manley H. All lovers of Sir Viv and the Bonzos will wheeze out a chuckling and sobbing thank you to a great and good man."

- Stephen Fry

"It was the point where you noticed that everyone was singing along. Suddenly you realized that this special and private thing that you'd treasured all these years was special and private to a whole lot of other people. It was lovely, wasn't it?"

- Adrian Edmondson

In 2010, devised and produced a stage show based upon Vivian Stanshall's 1978 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End album, premiering in Liverpool, (Unity Theatre), and then transferring to London (Lion and Unicorn, 2011, Bloomsbury Theatre, 2013-2018), followed by UK tour (Bristol Old Vic, Buxton Opera House, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Golowan Festival, Rye Arts Festival, Bath Comedy Festival, Slapstick Festival, St George's Bristol, Epstein Theatre, Liverpool, Norden Farm Arts Centre, The Stables, O2 London, 2015-2018).

The show was a critical and popular success, finally being revived for a special performance to mark Vivian Stanshall's 80th at the Union Chapel, London in 2023.

"A tour-de-force and a work of art."

- Neil Innes

"An ensemble of madmen at their best - smashing!"

- Rupert Stanshall

"A work of lyrical genius and poetry, on a different plane to the rest of the world."

- Rick Wakeman

"Rare facility and nimble erudition, as powerful an experience as one could wish for."

- Danny Baker

"Michael is absolutely remarkable…he keeps the memory of Viv well and truly alive."

- Danny Thompson

"Bellowing, manic chutzpah"

- Robin Ince

PRESS

"All very odd, all very Stanshall."

- The Times

“Brilliant! Berserk! Simply wonderful!”

- The Guardian

"A distorted-mirror celebration of English eccentricity."

- The Independent

"A comic tour-de-force."

- MOJO