In Memoriam : Geoff Brown

I have an incredibly vivid memory of Geoff Brown from the early days of Revue Group in 1976. He and I were at some point on our own in the Chaplaincy Centre concourse where there was a piano. Geoff pulled up the chair, sat down, and while tapping the piano keys, composed off the cuff six near-perfect verses of a song entitled "Can We Have Our Money Back?". I never saw such instant comic writing ability before or since. The song never got performed, though I think it may have been written down. That was Geoff, a bit of a creative genius-- a cliched term,I know, but it could easily be applied in his case. And his portrayal on stage of wild-haired students' union leader Victor Adereth became a Revue Group classic. Geoff was also an editor of Scan when it was still a non-full-time job. Unlike many other 'student humour columns', his William T. Wormcast pieces were superbly written and highly amusing. It would be fair to say Geoff was one of the most genuinely talented writers I ever knew. A tragedy he's no longer with us.

On paper, Geoff's contribution to LURG looks slight. He only appeared in the first show, writing and performing in just two sketches. However, that contribution far outweighed mere statistics. As a disparate group of newbies, just six weeks separated the inaugral meeting and the first show, staged in the "challenging" environment of the Chaplaincy Centre concourse. It wasn't really surprising that the end product prompted mixed reactions. When it comes to weighing up the good and the bad of Can We Have Our Money Back, Geoff's University Interview and UGM sketches scored massively in the positive column, thanks to the quality of his writing and performance. This helped provide the impetus for the group to make it as far as a second show and beyond. It also taught us the importance of the well written "campus sketch".

In the UGM sketch, I had the pleasure of playing the gun-toting "second thug", flanking Geoff's insane characterisation of then Union president, Victor Adereth. Mine was an easy part, since it just involved looking mean while Geoff stole the show.

Geoff wasn't involved in our next production, The Left Handed Screwdriver Show, but wrote a generous review for Scan, noting that "Brian Smith's voice and Lawson Wakefield's face also surely deserve a mention". I THINK the latter was meant as a compliment.

Later, in Golden Mouldies, I had the opportunity to fill Geoff's shoes, in our reprise of the University Interview sketch. The best I could offer was a pale impersonation. His gruff portrayal of an irascible academic in the original was hard to top.