The history of The Black Sheep begins with the history of Ubersausage, the comedy sketch troupe formed by Ciaran while at Warwick University. Ubersausage rapidly grew in popularity (thanks in part to a self-started campaign to have the show banned on grounds of taste and decency), and was taken up to the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe by Warwick’s Fresh Blood Theatre group. Again it did terrifically well, and was soon playing to capacity crowds. Ciaran graduated from Warwick that summer, but taken by their success they decided to keep the show going.
The split focus between Warwick and London, where Ciaran had moved to go to Central School of Speech and Drama, resulted in several changes of line-up over the next few months. Things came to a head when Ubersausage found themselves booked for a repeat appearance at Edinburgh - but without enough original members available to make a complete cast.
Having met Ciaran at Central, Andrew auditioned and was taken on for the new show, Uberworld. Perhaps fuelled by the energy caused by largely writing and producing the show in the two weeks remaining to us, Edinburgh 2000 was another good year, both for the main show and for spin-off kids’ show Uberchipolata, starring jester Justin Time. With a much more stable team of writers and performers, the momentum to keep going was renewed and work began on a new show UberArmy, allowing a much longer development time than previously.
A year of hard work paid off with a rip-roaring Edinburgh in 2001, highlights of which included 10,000 free Peperami from a sponsorship deal, being followed around by our own (insane) film crew (Mr Bunny and Yeti, their real names), and of course our showstopping finaleAnne Frank: The Musical. We also hosted our own cabaret evening, UberNacht, which among other things was the first ever place Ciaran and Andrew performed as ‘The Wine Tasters’, and the first place where director Rohan staged ’45 acts in 45 minutes’, a fantastic show that has gone on to be an institution in its own right.
Meanwhile, in early 2001, Andrew had also started a theatre company, Charlatan Theatre, in order to experiment with improvised shows. The first, and as it transpired only show under this company name was an improvised story-telling show called Fairly Tales, featuring a pool of improvisers including Ciaran. Although we stepped on stage the first time with no idea how it was going to be taken, it was instantly clear from the feedback that we had created something special.
Unfortunately, tension within Ubersausage was growing. The more success we had, the more everyone wanted to take the show in different directions. It became very clear during the final shows at Christmas that it was impossible for everyone to be happy at the same time, and so at the start of 2002 the company disbanded. Since then, many of the members of Uber over the years have gone on to great success with their own comedy careers. To find out more about our own, read on...
SHOW CREDITS
Ubersausage
Additional performers:
Tom Price, Matt Holt, Alexis Dubus, Tom Cocklin, Jehan Mendis, Anna Starkey
Director: Rohan Acharya Tec and music: Ben Sauer Additional material: Alan Valentine
Uberworld
Additional performers:
Tom Price, Kevin Dewsbury, Beth Sheldon, (with Justin Time in Uberchipolata)
Director: Rohan Acharya Tec: Nic Watson, Keith Gould Music: Keith Gould Additional material: Alan Valentine
UberArmy/ UberNacht
Additional performers: Tom Price, Matt Holt, Beth Sheldon
Director: Rohan Acharya Tec: Nic Watson, Keith Gould, Gill Lachman Music: Keith Gould, Antony Moss Press and PR: Mel Brown, Kathy Slack, Chris Lincé
Fairly Tales
Additional performers: Stephen Hancocks, Melanie Wilson, Philip Beaven
Design: Mayou Trikerioti Music: Rupert Lally
SHOW DATES
1999-2000
Performances of Ubersausage at Warwick University, C Venues (Edinburgh Fringe), Canal Café, London and Hen & Chickens, London
2000
July: Uberworld previews, Canal Café, London
August 3-27: Uberworld, C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe
August 3-27: Uberchipolata, C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe
2001
December: Uberworld, Canal Café, London
February 21-March 3: Uberworld, Canal Café, London
May 13: Fairly Tales premiere, Lion & Unicorn, London
June 22: UberArmy premiere, Warwick Arts Centre
June-July: UberArmy previews, Canal Café, London
August 1-26: UberArmy, C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe
August 3-26: UberNacht, C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe
October 10: Fairly Tales, Lion & Unicorn, London
October 22: UberArmy, Lion & Unicorn, London
December 18-21: UberArmy, Canal Café, London
December 22: UberNacht Christmas Special, Canal Café, London
