The end of Harvey Greenfield

In November 2018 I wrote what was to be my 'last ever play' - I was honestly done at one point, so started working on a nice, fun, energetic piece that I threw every last idea I had into. After a couple of house shows in early 2019, it opened publicly in April of that year in Swindon, before a bunch of other fringe festivals. In Edinburgh that summer (my 'last ever time') it was picked up by the national press and then it ended up briefly in the West End, and on several lengthy tours, and then there was the film which has won lots of awards including a few for me as an individual which was, well, never really the plan. And of course, it's success opened other doors for me, so I carried on writing, with new shows opening in New York and France. Not bad for a 'last' play, but it soon became a play I just couldn't quite shake off. Last summer, when performing it, I decided to just keep it going forever...maybe this play could be my living? This year I decided enough was probably enough. 

Yesterday, at the magnificent Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, after a week of house shows, I put on my Harvey Greenfield jacket for the final time, and the stressed lad ran for one more adventure. 145 performances. Not bad, really, is it? 

Normally when a show ends it's because: 

a) I'm bored of it
b) People didn't like it 
c) It involved too many people and the logistics make it too tricky to continue

With Harvey it was none of those things; I still enjoyed doing it, I could have carried on. Just something in my gut was telling me that this was the right time, and I stand by it - maybe I wasn't enjoying it as much as I was, but I still enjoyed performing a show that always went down well. It was the right mix of being a play that would work in comedy clubs, enough big laughs but also a big climax at the end that would leave audiences talking about it. I haven't quite managed that with anything else since, but there is one brewing...

The final show was lovely. Sold out, the room was a bit too hot but that was my fault for closing the door and turning off the fans as I didn't want external noise. They were a lovely audience and the organisers were brilliant. Alan, who recorded the original audio track, did the sound for one final push, and Jonnie, who directed the movie, came along and filmed the final show. My team, my lads. Team Harvey.

I'm so lucky with the way that all worked out. 

When I got back, before even entering the house, I opened my Harvey props bag and threw the sweaty shirt straight in the black bin. I'm keeping the rest of the set, including the coat, but not everything has to be kept for old times' sake.