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Playwright and Co-Producer

Rob Fennah talks about his friendship
with author Helen Forrester

How did you first meet Helen?
My background is in pop music and during the late-80s I was given a book called Twopence
To Cross The Mersey to read while I was waiting to go into a radio interview. In the book Hel-
en referred to her father, a man who had lost his fortune during the Great Depression, as a
‘butterfly in the rain’, a beautiful image that inspired me to write a song of the same title for
an album I was working on. Helen got to hear the track, really liked it, and asked if she could
use it when promoting her books around the world.

How did you collaborate artistically?
First and foremost, we got on. There was a picture taken on the day we met; it’s a lovely pho-
tograph and says everything about the friendship that was to follow. Once we’d got to know
each other, I asked if I could have a go at adapting her book, Twopence To Cross The Mersey,
into a stage play. She agreed, but on the strict understanding she had final approval. ‘After
all Rob’, she reminded me, ‘this is my life!’ During the writing process she would tell me a lot
more about the characters in her books and this really helped me bring them to life on stage. I
still have a pile of faxes and letters from her describing these people in great detail, and some
drawings too. We had a lot of fun doing it. Helen flew from her Canada home to attend the
première of ‘Twopence’ at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. She loved it. Although Helen is no
longer with us, she is always in my thoughts. While I’m working on the stage adaptations I im-
agine her looking over my shoulder, just to check all the little details are correct and in order.
It’s a real privilege to be entrusted with her most famous works, but also a huge responsibility.

How did you adapt such a big book like ‘Twopence To Cross The Mersey’ for stage?
It’s wasn’t easy. Trying to tell such a big story like Twopence in a two hour theatre dramati-
sation definitely had its challenges, particularly as I wanted to weave parts of Helen’s second
book ‘Liverpool Miss’ into the storyline too. To make all this possible we use a technique
called ‘story theatre’ whereby the actors form part of the landscape itself and take on multi-
ple roles, over fifty different characters. It’s a fluid and very theatrical way of presenting such
an epic tale and has proved to be a huge hit with our audiences.

‘The partnership between Rob Fennah

and my mother Helen, and her legacy,
has been outstanding’

Robert Bhatia (Broadway World)