Producer & actor David Graham’s comic creation ‘Eric’ has become something of a cultural phenomenon, with shows at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic Theatre regularly drawing a crowd from across the region. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Eric’s first appearance at the venue, so he will be celebrating with three special shows - as David tells What’s On...

When David Graham first pitched up at Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre to perform Itchycoo Park - a touring musical based on 1960s chart hits - he could never have imagined he’d be doing variations on the ‘60s musical’ theme at the venue for the next 25 years.

Itchycoo Park proved to be so popular with the good folk of Newcastle-under-Lyme that the theatre’s manager asked him to return the following year.

“Like a fool, I said yes!” David recalls. “When you’re doing a 20-week tour, the cost of the whole thing is amortised over that time. But I ended up rehearsing, costuming, propping and doing everything else for a show that was only gonna run for two weeks - and I actually lost money on it. I was asking myself ‘what am I doing here, this is costing me money’ - little knowing it was probably the best investment I’ve ever made in my life.”

He can say that again. And again. When David returned for that second year, the cast of his show included the character of ‘middle-aged loser’ Eric. Played by David himself, Eric was an instant hit with New Vic audiences. He has since been the star of dozens of shows at the venue. The productions feature a 60s soundtrack and take inspiration from all manner of sources - from the Carry On films and television’s Downton Abbey, to the plays of William Shakespeare.

Since Eric made his debut, David’s productions have been coming back to the New Vic twice a year. This year there will actually be three shows, including a 25th anniversary concert. “We’re going to have a big brass section. Musically it’s going to be quite stupendous compared to what we normally do - and there’ll be a few surprises as well!”

The other two productions this year will be revivals of the two most popular Eric shows, as voted by the audience.

“I suggested the vote so I didn’t have to write anything new,” laughs David, who says the results were pretty much what he expected. Second place went to Strictly Eric, a show based on the popular TV dance contest, but the winner - which polled more than double the votes of every other production combined - was Eric’s Full Monty.

“Whether that’s because there are a lot of ladies who buy tickets I don’t know, but it came top by a long, long way - so that’s going to be the Christmas show. Ticket sales are going great, and they’ve already added an extra week.”

Eric’s continuing appeal puzzles and delights David in equal measure.

“You’d think after 25 years it’d be tailing off a bit. I’ll always want to get out before we’re playing to 50 people, but it’s crazy - 25 years on, we’re still doing effectively the same character in a 60s musical and it’s selling out.”

Even though he can’t put his finger on any one reason for the shows’ popularity, David believes the contribution of iconic venue The Place in nearby Hanley plays a part. Often claimed to be the UK’s first discotheque, the club not only helped break a lot of music stars in the 60s, it also generated a real appetite for live music in the area.

“From what I can gather, it was pretty much the most successful live-music venue outside of London in the 1960s. The guy who ran it was clearly a genius with a really good eye - he’d book artists who, by the time they came to play at the club, were number one in the charts.”

David thinks that many of those who came to see the early Eric shows were people who’d spent their teens and early 20s watching bands at the venue.

“They really knew and loved their 60s music and [the Eric shows] really brought their youth back.”

Another factor in the shows’ success is the New Vic itself, with an intimate dynamic that encourages audiences to lose their inhibitions and really enjoy themselves.

“Because the theatre is ‘in the round’, you can see everybody - you can see all the faces and if they’re having a good time. And the audience can not only see us, they can see each other, and they sort of give each other permission to laugh and join in.

“If you’re sitting in an audience, you never want to be the first one to stand up and start dancing, because you don’t know what anybody else is doing. Here, though, you can see that everybody else is just as keen as you are to get involved.”

The shows have also become something of a family affair, with David proudly acknowledging that he regularly sees up to three generations of the same family seated together and singing along with every word.

“It’s not just a nostalgia show anymore; there’s a generation, possibly two generations, that we see every time, and they’re too young to remember the music.

“We’ve actually got somebody in the show who went into the business because his parents brought him to see an Eric show when he was eight years old - he’s now in his thirties.”

Whether that cast member calls his boss Uncle Eric is a moot point, but the nickname is one that David’s been stuck with for more than two decades.

“I was Uncle Eric to a nephew who was in the show for about the first four years. I haven’t been anybody’s uncle in the show since about 2004, but people still call me it in the street and ring up the box office to book for Uncle Eric. I wanted to get away from it because I felt new people would think it sounds like a kids’ show.”

He accepts it with good grace now, of course, and genuinely appreciates the affection he and (Uncle) Eric enjoy in the region, as well as the connection he’s developed to the area and its people.

“What I am mostly is grateful. The security of having work year after year is fantastic. I’ve almost never wanted to try and establish the same thing in other places because it’s so special in Stoke.

“When the theatre’s general manager left Stoke and went to York, he asked us to go there and do a Christmas show. We had the most awful week - the character and structure of the piece just didn’t take in the same way as it did at the New Vic. I decided then that this is a character for Stoke and that’s it.”

Eric’s 25th Anniversary Concert runs from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 May; Strictly Eric shows from Monday 22 July to Saturday 3 August and Eric’s Full Monty runs from Monday 25 November to Tuesday 10 December. All three productions will show at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme.