The Times
2nd January 1999 

Imogen Edwards-Jones
FUTURE FAMOUS FIVE: THE BIG INTERVIEWS - NICK GROSSO, CIARAN 
MCMENAMIN, XANTHE TYLER, SOPHIE HANNAH, SIMON PEGG

You may not have heard of them but you will soon. From poets and 
pop stars to playwrights, from actors to comics, Imogen 
Edwards-Jones talks fame and fortune with the young British talent 
heading your way.

Nick Grosso is a precocious talent. Just 30, he is 
writer-in-residence at the Royal Court, and author of three 
critically acclaimed plays. His most recent, Real Classy Affair , 
was a slick, urban work, packed full of enough cracking, rhythmic 
dialogue to lure Nick Moran and Joseph Fiennes away from the 
lucrative world of film and into the cramped confines of Upstairs at 
The Ambassadors theatre. Nick is currently adapting his first play, 
a dating game piece called Peaches , into a screenplay that he will 
direct this summer. "It's low budget, but we don't know how low," he 
explains. "It depends on what we get. It certainly won't be over 
Pounds 30 million, but then again it could be 30 quid."

Although obviously gifted, the most extraordinary thing about Nick 
is that before he wrote Peaches he had never been to, seen, or read 
a play in his life. "When I wrote the play, I never imagined it 
would get put on," he says. "It's set in a car. I probably wouldn't 
do that again. I knew absolutely nothing. But I think it's also an 
advantage to know nothing. It sets you free. You could write a 
helicopter scene. If I was to do a play tomorrow, I'd never write a 
helicopter scene because I know the logistical problems of doing 
that. But somehow you are freed by ignorance."

Not that Nick was completely ignorant. Born in Ladbroke Grove to 
Argentinian parents of Italian and Russian extraction, at the age of 
eight he was part of an ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) 
programme for gifted children. "So instead of playing football for 
the school team on a Saturday afternoon I used to have to go to 
theatre workshops with Ted Hughes," he says. "I absolutely hated it."

Everyone tried to push him into doing English and the more they 
pushed, the more he resisted. Eventually Nick left school at 16, 
only to return a year later when he realised quite how dull 
unemployment was.

After passing his A-levels, Nick worked as a photographer, writing 
and making short films in his own time, until he enrolled at the 
Royal Court Young People's Theatre.

"I realised I wanted to write for actors. I wanted my writing to be 
heard rather than read because of the rhythm and the rhyme," he 
says. "Suddenly I was surrounded by a group of like-minded people. 
It was the first time I'd been in an educational environment and 
actually enjoyed myself. It was very stimulating for me.

"Most of what was being said I didn't actually agree with," he 
says. "They'd all been to posh universities - they knew about 
Chekhov and Ibsen. I just wanted to write a play, so I disappeared 
to Berlin for three weeks and wrote Peaches..think that was the 
first time anyone had written anything in the writers' group."

After Peaches came Sweetheart , a darker work about a slacker who 
can't seem to find any direction in life. Real Classy Affair has 
finished its run now, but Nick's stock is still high. "I just want 
the opportunity to make the work that I want to make," he says. "To 
be in a position where I can afford to do that. It's the most 
someone who's doing creative work can hope for." He smiles. "If I 
can have that I'll be happy."

Sophie Hannah Poet and author Sophie Hannah is 27 years old and has 
won more prizes, awards and university chairs than anyone twice her 
age. The current Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity 
College Cambridge is already well known on the poetry circuit, where 
she has been writing and touring, giving three to four readings a 
week, for the past six years. Now her first novel, Gripless , will 
be published by Heinemann in March. "It's a story of an obsessive 
love rhombus," she explains. "The main theme of the book is that 
being in love is incompatible with being sane. The minute you fall 
in love, you cease to behave properly any more. It was a very strong 
and very sudden idea that I couldn't do as a poem."

Born and brought up in Manchester, where her father is a professor 
of Government at the University and her mother an author of 
children's books, Sophie started writing young. A huge fan of 
creative writing at her prep school, she became disenchanted with 
education later on. "Anything that I could just make up I wasn't 
that great at. I decided not to go to university but it wasn't until 
I became very bored of stuffing envelopes at a theatre that I 
decided I should." Rediscovering creative writing as part of her 
English course at Manchester University, Sophie eventually went on 
to publish her first work, a children's book, Carrot the Goldfish , 
in 1992. "I don't think that my parents ever expected me to be a 
writer - they always thought I'd be a reader because that's all I 
ever spent my childhood doing."

After her children's book, Sophie went on to write poetry pamphlet 
after poetry pamphlet and win prize after prize, including the Eric 
Gregory Award and the North West Arts Writer Award for her poems The 
Hero and The Girl Next Door . "It's a way of processing life and 
making something last out of ideas and experiences. It's a way of 
not only keeping them, but a way of exercising some power over them. 
Whatever you want to happen can," she explains. With her poetry 
receiving such critical acclaim her move into novels is indeed 
brave. "My poetry is very formal. I have a metrical form and a rhyme 
scheme, so that there's a framework and less scope for me to do 
something hideously wrong," she explains. "But with a novel, because 
it can be any length and any amount of words, there are more words 
that could be bad words, if you know what I mean?" she laughs. "I 
feel a lot more scared about novel writing than I do about poetry."

But then her confidence to experiment is understandable, given that 
she fought off stiff competition to win her creative arts position 
at Trinity, in October 1997. "The change in lifestyle in getting 
that job has been the most significant thing that has happened to 
me," she enthuses. "Suddenly I was in Cambridge with a flat and a 
job with absolutely no duties whatsoever. I could have stayed in bed 
for years. It was like a miracle, they have been so wonderful. If I 
didn't have to leave, I wouldn't." She also has a similar deal at 
Manchester Metropolitan University while she works on her next 
novel, currently entitled Cordial and Corrosive . "My main ambition 
is not to get into a pattern where I'm just churning stuff out and 
not worrying about the quality," she explains. "Ideally, I'd like to 
feel as passionate about everything as I did about Gripless. The 
ideal state to be in is to be basically happy, with a twinge of 
anxiety. You need that edge of fear to sharpen your writing skills."

Simon Pegg Comedian Simon Pegg has come a long way since he wrote 
his Marxist analysis of Star Wars while studying drama at Bristol 
University. One of the stars of BBC2's recent hit comedy series Big 
Train , written by the makers of Father Ted , he is currently 
writing Spaced , a weird and warped sitcom for Channel 4 and has 
just finished touring with Steve Coogan. On the road since 
September, with an extended run in the West End, Simon, 28, has 
certainly earned the right to look exhausted. "I'm a little bit 
tired of doing the show," he admits. "The whole day is geared 
towards those two hours. Afterwards we tend to go a bit mad, but I'm 
working a lot during the day, so I can't afford to be mucking about 
too much."

Not that Simon's ever really mucked about. Even as far back as his 
days in Bristol he was honing his art in a stand-up club with David 
Ike and the Orphans of Jesus , along with the likes of Dominic 
Diamond and David Williams. "The course was very theoretical," 
remembers Simon. "It made me look at the state of British theatre 
and realise that I didn't want to be an actor and participate in 
that awful meat market of auditions. I'd always been much more 
interested in comedy, even when I was little." Very little as it 
turns out. "I was doing it as a kid," he laughs. "I used to stand up 
and tell all these jokes in school on a Monday morning. A lot of 
people think that comedy is the hardest job in the world and it 
really isn't. If you've got the balls to do it and you've got some 
good material, it's a wonderful thing to make people laugh. The more 
they laugh the more you gain confidence."

Picked up by his agent after doing an open-mike slot at Screaming 
Blue Murder in Hampton Wick, Simon originally became known for 
playing Julia Sawalha's boyfriend in the ITV sitcom Faith in the 
Future. "I had a wonderful time working with everyone," says Simon. 
"And we won some awards. We won the award for best ITV sitcom, which 
isn't exactly hard, as there isn't much competition." But all the 
while the comedy was on slow boil. A show in Edinburgh three years 
ago led to a three-month tour of Australia and New Zealand with 
Funny Business. "I remember standing in the sea in New Zealand with 
Michael Smilie, Phil Kay and a couple of other comics and we all 
just stood up to our knees in the water, in 42 degrees heat, and 
someone said 'So this is our job' and someone said 'Yeah!' ."

Yet it wasn't always wonderful. Mention the Channel 5 series We 
Know Where You Live and the smile soon disappears from his face. "We 
decided to just take the p*** because we were bored. I'm just glad 
no one knew where we lived at the time," he laughs. "We would have 
been lynched."

But it is his relationship with Steve Coogan that has proved the 
most fruitful. "He saw my show and as I was a huge fan of his he 
could probably see me mimicking him," admits Simon. "It was 
terrifying the first time I met him, he was dressed as Alan 
Partridge." After playing a cameo role as the video director in I'm 
Alan Partridge , Simon was asked to do the recent tour. "We've 
become mates and I hope to work a lot with him in the future. We 
have a great rapport, we make each other laugh a lot and it's a 
really creative atmosphere."

The Big Train comedy series is not his only project with the Father 
Ted team. Simon is also starring in another Channel 4 sitcom, 
Hippies .

"Everyone is going to hate me next year," he says, "because I will 
be everywhere." Ask him where it's all leading and Simon just grins. 
"I'd like to do films or movies and a book, do as much as I can and 
keep enjoying myself. What I'd really like to do is go to America, 
live in Beverly Hills and be part of a massive sci-fi franchise and 
give up all my principles for a laser gun."

Ciaran McMenamin Ciaran McMenamin, 24, has the sort of pretty, 
elfin face that teenage bedroom walls were made for. Although 
relatively well-known back in his native Northern Ireland, he first 
came to the great British public's attention when he disco-danced on 
to our screens as the lead in Channel 4's hit series, The Young 
Person's Guide to Becoming A Rock Star . Written by the adaptor of 
The Crow Road , Bryan Elsley, Ciaran played Jez, the ridiculously 
confident and completely hopeless lead singer. The critical reaction 
was extremely positive and his subsequent rise has been meteoric.

"It's been a really good showcase for me," he says with a smile. 
"I'm now in a situation where I can pick and choose what work I do, 
which is what I've always wanted."

It is an unusually comfortable position to be in, especially when 
you consider that he only graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy 
in Glasgow in July. But then a swift glance at Ciaran's early career 
and it's obvious such recognition has always been on the cards.

After encouragement from his mother, a district nurse, he went from 
playing the lead roles at school in Enniskillin, to Ardhowne Youth 
Theatre and then on to the Ulster Youth Theatre, the Irish 
equivalent of the National, where he stayed for four years. 
"Basically from about 17 onwards I was using it as an excuse not to 
do homework," laughs Ciaran. "But I suddenly decided that I wanted 
to make a go of it because I had a knack for it, and a passion for 
it."

And it was a knack and a passion that did not go unrewarded. While 
at the Royal Scottish Academy, Ciaran won the Kenneth Branagh Award, 
the Renaissance Award and was the Gold Medal winner for his year. "I 
couldn't really ask for anything more," he says.

After breaking another college record when more than 20 agents 
wanted to sign him when he graduated, Ciaran is now more or less 
sitting back and waiting for the plaudits to roll in when his two 
films open later this year. The first, Titanic Town , in which he 
plays Dino, a medical student in Belfast who falls in love with 
Julie Walters's daughter Annie, opens this month, and the second, 
The Somme , written by William Boyd, is out later this year. " The 
Somme is a wonderful film," says Ciaran. "It's an ensemble piece. 
You basically get to know all these young boys before they get 
killed. We're a raggle-taggle troop made up of the remains of other 
platoons who are shoved together. It's a very moving piece, very 
strong."

So while he waits for the next sexy script to hit the mat what 
would Ciaran really like to do? "I know that this sounds sad in this 
day and age," he says, "but I really want to do theatre again. I 
would love a really nice theatre job in the Abbey in Dublin," he 
smiles. "I want to do enough quality work to be able to choose where 
I want to live. I want a situation where people are looking for me, 
rather than the other way round." He pauses and then grins. "You 
know what? I want to be bloody rich and bloody in demand, darlin'."

Ask him if the fame game is all it's cracked up to be and he 
suddenly becomes pensive. "It's kind of like when you were 18 and 
you thought you'd love to be doing the photos and the interviews. 
But you soon realise it's not really what you're acting for. It's 
not about being famous. It's about getting respect for doing good 
work. I don't like all of that. I like being able to go for a pint 
in peace." Not, I fear, for much longer.

Xanthe Tyler Technique is the first ever female pop group to be 
signed to Creation records, the super-hip label run by Alan McGee, 
who also signed Oasis and Primal Scream. Xanthe Tyler, 25, is their 
lead singer. "It's electronic pop," she explains. "Not specifically 
New Order, but there are a lot of similarities in style. There's a 
real craving at the moment for this kind of electronic sound. "

Already photographed for the front cover of Dazed and Confused , 
Xanthe and the other half of Technique, Kate Holmes, are tipped to 
be huge when their single, Sun is Shining , is released in March. 
"The record company's idea of success is very different to mine," 
she says. "They're talking Top Ten, but I've no idea. For me, if two 
people buy it I'll be chuffed to ribbons."

Unlike so many new pop sensations, Xanthe has actually worked very 
hard for her success. Born in Putney and raised in Balham, she left 
school at 16 and has been trying to break into the music business 
ever since. "It's funny how things happen," she says. "I'd been 
slogging away for eight years and I was starting to get a bit jaded 
by it all, because you can only do so many student union gigs. I was 
just about to give up when this happened." By "this" she means 
meeting Kate Holmes during a recording session at Butterfly Studios 
in Brixton. Kate, who was already signed to Sony and had her foot in 
the door at Creation, was impressed by Xanthe's voice and together 
they formed Technique. A couple of months later, they had a 
three-album deal.

It couldn't have happened at a better time. "There have been many 
times when I've been thoroughly depressed," she remembers. "And I've 
been in some atrocious bands. Sitting on a tour bus going up and 
down the M1 with eight blokes you don't like, playing in front of a 
load of students who are too drunk to care whether you're any good 
or not. But hopefully it will have all been worth it."

In true girl-power style, Technique manage themselves. "We did 
start off with a manager, but it didn't really make much sense," 
says Xanthe, "because we ended up doing so much of it ourselves, we 
just thought we might as well do it all ourselves."

With a glamorous video (complete with a Lear jet) already under 
their belts, Xanthe is looking forward to getting her hands on the 
actual CD. "It's going to be great - all in colour and printed up 
with my name on it," she smiles. "What I really want is three really 
successful albums and a few awards. That would be nice."

But surely, I suggest, the ultimate accolade for anyone in the 
music business is to have your record playing as incidental music in 
EastEnders ? She smiles. "Now that really is something to aim for."

Grooming: Kim Brown, using Clarins; Michelle Foxley, using 
Cosmetics a la Carte. 


ends