Editing Ken Campbell

{{Short description|British actor, director and writer (1941–2008)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English| date= September 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Ken Campbell
| image        = Ken Campbell by Richard Adams.jpg
| birth_name   = Kenneth Victor Campbell
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=y|1941|12|10}}
| birth_place  = [[Ilford]], [[Essex]], England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=y|2008|8|31|1941|12|10}}
| death_place  = [[Loughton]], Essex, England
| education    = [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]
| occupation   = {{hlist|Actor|director|writer}}
| years_active = 1961–2008
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Prunella Gee]]|1978|1983|end=div}}
| children     = [[Daisy Eris Campbell]]
}}
'''Kenneth Victor Campbell''' (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, director and writer. He was known for his work in [[experimental theatre]].<ref>{{cite news| url= http://Guardian.co.UK/stage/2008/sep/01/theatre.comedy| title= Improv king Ken Campbell dies| last= Hanman| first= Natalie| date= 1 September 2008| work= [[The Guardian]]| access-date= 1 September 2008| location= London}}</ref>  He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre".<ref>{{cite web |author=Discover How to Gather Riches Along With Cheap Ray Ban |url=http://thescope.ca/2008/10/09/ken-campbell |title=Ken Campbell &#124; The Scope |website=Thescope.ca |access-date=22 February 2017 |archive-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003014412/http://thescope.ca/2008/10/09/ken-campbell |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1970s for his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy ''[[Illuminatus!]]'' and his 22-hour staging of [[Neil Oram]]'s play cycle ''[[The Warp (play)|The Warp]]''. The ''[[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of Records]]'' listed the latter as the longest play in the world.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ian Shuttleworth|author-link=Ian Shuttleworth|url=http://www.compulink.co.uk/~shutters/warp.htm |title=THE WARP: Introduction |publisher=Compulink.co.uk |access-date=16 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long182.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211205620/http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long182.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=11 December 2005 |title=World's longest play. Neil Oram The Warp |publisher=Thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com |access-date=16 August 2009}}</ref>

''[[The Independent]]'' said that, "In the 1990s, through a series of sprawling monologues packed with arcane information and freakish speculations on the nature of reality, he became something approaching a grand old man of the fringe, though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ken-campbell-actor-writer-and-director-famed-for-his-epic-plays-and-oneman-shows-917169.html |title=Ken Campbell: Actor, writer and director famed for his epic plays and one-man shows - Obituaries, News |work=The Independent |date= 3 September 2008|access-date=16 August 2009 | location=London}}</ref>  ''[[The Times]]'' labelled Campbell a one-man whirlwind of comic and surreal performance.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4655952.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525035238/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4655952.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=25 May 2010 | newspaper=The Times | location=London | title=Ken Campbell oneman whirlwind of comic and surreal performances | date=2 September 2008 | access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref>

[[Michael Coveney]], in an obituary in ''[[The Guardian]]'', described him as "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in the British theatre of the past half-century. A genius at producing shows on a shoestring and honing the improvisational capabilities of the actors who were brave enough to work with him."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campbell?gusrc=rss&feed=stage |title=Obituary: Ken Campbell &#124; Stage &#124; guardian.co.uk |newspaper=The Guardian |date= 1 September 2008|access-date=16 August 2009 | location=London | first=Michael | last=Coveney}}</ref> The artistic director of the [[Everyman Theatre, Liverpool|Liverpool Everyman]] and [[Liverpool Playhouse|Playhouse]] said, "He was the door through which many hundreds of kindred souls entered a madder, braver, brighter, funnier and more complex universe."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546 |title=Ken Campbell: A Tribute |publisher=Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatres |date=4 September 2008 |access-date=14 July 2017 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925081320/http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546 |archive-date=25 September 2008  }}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Campbell was born on 10 December 1941 in [[Ilford]], [[Essex]], the son of Elsie ([[married and maiden names|née]] Handley) and Anthony Colin Campbell, who was a telegrapher.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Ken-Campbell.html |title=Ken Campbell Biography (1941-) |publisher=Filmreference.com |date=10 December 1941 |access-date=16 August 2009}}</ref> He staged his first performances in the bathroom of his childhood home: "I was three years old and helped by my invisible friend, Peter Jelp, I put on shows for the characters in the linoleum."<ref name="telegraph.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html |title=Ken Campbell |publisher=Telegraph |date=1 September 2008 |access-date=16 August 2009 | location=London}}</ref>

He was educated at [[Chigwell School]] (where he won the Drama prize) and then studied at [[RADA]] before joining [[Colchester]] [[Repertory theatre]] as an [[understudy]] to [[Warren Mitchell]]. In 1967 he became resident dramatist and acting company member at the [[Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/about_the_university/doctors/ken_campbell.jsp |title=Ken Campbell |last=Staff writer |date=July 2008 |work=Honorary Doctors |publisher=University of Staffordshire |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428153626/http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/about_the_university/doctors/ken_campbell.jsp |archive-date=28 April 2009 }}</ref> He soon began writing and directing his own productions, including working with director [[Lindsay Anderson]]. After seeing the American [[Living Theatre]] at [[Roundhouse (venue)|The Roundhouse]] in 1969 he was inspired to found The Ken Campbell Roadshow, a small theatre group that performed in unconventional venues such as [[pub]]s. Members included [[Bob Hoskins]], [[Bernard Wrigley]], Jane Wood, [[Dave Hill (actor)|Dave Hill]] and [[Sylvester McCoy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theatrevoice.com/audio/interview-ken-campbell-12-the-unrivalled-master-of-the-i//|title=Performance legend Ken Campbell talks|website=www.theatrevoice.com}}</ref> Campbell was invited by [[John Cleese]] to appear with his Roadshow team in the first  ''[[The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)|Secret Policeman's Ball]]'' in June 1979.

==Theatre director and playwright==
In 1976, he and [[Chris Langham]] formed the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool in order to stage ''[[The Illuminatus! Trilogy|Illuminatus]]'', a nine-hour cycle of five plays by himself and Langham based on the cult trilogy of avowedly [[anarchist]] science fantasy novels of the same name by [[Robert Shea]] and [[Robert Anton Wilson]]. Starring Campbell and Langham themselves, the production featured Neil Cunningham, [[David Rappaport]], [[Jim Broadbent]], [[Bill Nighy]] and Campbell's future wife [[Prunella Gee]]. It later moved to the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]], where it opened the new Cottesloe Theatre in 1977.

[[Peter Hall (director)|Sir Peter Hall]], director of the National at the time, writes of Campbell in his ''Diaries'', "He is a total anarchist and impossible to pin down. He more or less said it was a crime to be serious."<ref>Peter Hall'', Diaries'', 1983, p.284</ref>

''The Warp'', based on the real life experiences and adventures of author Neil Oram, is a dizzying trek through the nether reaches of gurudom and tireless post-sixties mind-expansion, directed by Ken Campbell, and opened at London's [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in January 1979. It was spawned by the encounter between Oram and Campbell after Oram gave his acclaimed performance as raconteur at the ICA. Campbell commissioned the cycle of ten plays after hearing Oram. The cycle's inordinate length when (as was intended to be possible) it is played together, 22 hours,  rendered the 9-hour ''Illuminatus!'' a mere bagatelle by comparison. For the first two weeks the performances were of one play per night, after which the impetus for a marathon performance, a real challenge to actors and audience, became irresistible. The success of this remarkable effort by all concerned led to three full marathon performances at the ICA. Five marathon performances followed at the Roundhouse in London in November 1979 also directed by Ken. Probably the most remarkable, and in terms of the ethos of the author and the work, the most attractive event in this episode was the five marathons that were performed, against the wishes of an army of local officialdom, during a [[squatting|squat]] of the Regent Theatre in Edinburgh during the Festival of 1979. The Scottish audiences were as enthusiastic as the London crowd. After one performance at Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, a further performance was given at Liverpool Everyman Theatre in a ten-week run from 29 September – 6 December 1980. Cult status was established giving some credence to the publicity material - "The world may soon divide into those who have been through THE WARP and those who have not" More recently the cycle was revived in the 1990s in a production directed by Campbell's daughter Daisy.

In May 1979, again at the ICA, the company presented the first stage version of  ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''.  One eye-popping aspect of the production was that for each set change the entire audience was wafted 1/2000th-of-an-inch above the floor aboard an industrial [[hovercraft]]. The cast cavorted on various ledges and platforms. The craft's carrying capacity meant that audiences were limited to a maximum of eighty each night. Langham was [[Arthur Dent]], [[Richard Hope (actor)|Richard Hope]] as [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] and narration of The Book was split between two [[Usher (occupation)|usherettes]]. The problem of how to portray [[Zaphod Beeblebrox]], the Betelgeusian blessed with three arms and two heads - not an issue in the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)|original radio series]] - was assailed in typical Campbell fashion by simply (or not so simply) putting two actors inside one large costume.

Audience-carrying capacity was not a problem at London's vast [[Rainbow Theatre]] where Campbell mounted a yet more grandiose version of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide'' in July 1980. The venue had been renovated in the 1970s to take [[rock opera]]s. Some reviewers, who in general did not greet the show favourably, labelled it a musical, since it now came with incidental music and audacious laser effects. It ran for over three hours, despite attempts to shorten the script, and was forced to close some four weeks early, losing a lot of money in the process.

For a year, 1980–1981, Campbell was artistic director of the Liverpool [[Everyman Theatre, Liverpool|Everyman Theatre]]. From 1984, he made repeated efforts to adapt for the stage ''[[Valis (novel)|VALIS]]'', the largely autobiographical cult science fiction novel by [[Philip K. Dick]], but to the disappointment of fans, these efforts came to nothing.

==Television, radio and film==
Campbell played Alex Gladwell, a corrupt lawyer, in one of the TV events of the 1970s, [[Law & Order (British TV series)|''Law & Order'']], the notorious but ground-breaking corruption drama by [[G.F. Newman]], a luminary of British TV screenwriting. The series provoked such a press outcry at the time that the [[BBC television|BBC]] banned its overseas sale, since it was deemed to have portrayed Britain's police and criminal justice system in such a wholly unfavourable light.

He played [[Alf Garnett]]'s neighbour, Fred Johnson in the series of the 1980s sitcom ''[[In Sickness and in Health]]'', which had the effect of cementing his career-long friendship with Warren Mitchell. He was memorable in [[Jack Pulman]]'s 1981 television series [[Private Schulz]] as the acerbic Herr Krauss, an underwear factory owner hoping the war would continue so as not to jeopardise his contracts with the German army.

Campbell in 1987 unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of the [[Seventh Doctor]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]''. He was beaten to the role by his old protégé Sylvester McCoy, but an independently written and produced episode, "The Lost Doctor", features the voice of Ken Campbell. The then [[script editor]], [[Andrew Cartmel]], later revealed that Campbell's interpretation had been considered "too dark" to put on television. Other roles included playing a mad scientist on the children's programme ''Erasmus Microman'' on ITV from 1988 to 1989 and an appearance in  ''[[Minder (TV series)|Minder]]'' (S7E4: The Last Video Show, 1989). He also played Roger in "[[The Anniversary (Fawlty Towers)|The Anniversary]]" episode of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', jewel thief James Ryder in an episode of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'' ("[[The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle|The Blue Carbuncle]]"), [[Malocclusion|buck-toothed]] blackmailer Ted Goat in "Lovejoy Loses It", a 1993 episode of ''[[Lovejoy]]'' and a thieving flower-show entrant in "Say It With Flowers", a 2004 episode of [[Heartbeat (British TV series)|''Heartbeat'']].

Campbell's radio career included playing [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Poodoo|Poodoo]] in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', a part specifically written for him. The [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] literary programme ''[[The Verb]]'' included Campbell as a regular contributor; in such spots as ''Campbell's Book Soup'' he became an upturner of bibliographic rocks, revealing unconsidered trifles to the hilarity of fellow contributors.

His film work included [[Derek Jarman]]'s ''[[The Tempest (1979 film)|The Tempest]]'' (1979), ''[[Breaking Glass (film)|Breaking Glass]]'' (1980), ''[[Joshua Then and Now (film)|Joshua Then and Now]]'' (1985), ''[[The Bride (1985 film)|The Bride]]'' (1985), [[Chris Bernard]]'s ''[[Letter to Brezhnev]]'' (1985), [[Peter Greenaway]]'s ''[[A Zed and Two Noughts]]'' (1985), [[Charles Crichton]]'s ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'' (1988), ''[[Hard Men]]'' (1996), ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1999 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1999), ''[[Saving Grace (2000 film)|Saving Grace]]'' (2000) and ''[[Creep (2004 film)|Creep]]'' (2004).

In the final years of his life Campbell suddenly found himself cast in a whole new TV role: that of doggedly curious sceptic called upon to probe the outer realms of [[particle physics]] and [[cognitive science]] on behalf of the casual viewer, particularly where the science bordered on the [[paranormal]]. Campbell's idiosyncratic presentation in ''Brainspotting'', ''Reality On the Rocks''  and ''Six Experiments that Changed the World'', each made for [[Channel 4]], owed much to the influence of one of his heroes, the American [[Charles Fort]]. Campbell became a star turn at the annual ''[[Fortean Times]]'' convention, [[UnCon]].

==Later career and one-man shows==
From the late eighties onwards Campbell wrote and performed a series of one-man shows, each a mélange of autobiographical [[stand-up comedy]], [[ontology|ontological]] speculation and popular-science rant. They include ''Recollections of a Furtive Nudist'', ''Jamais Vu'', ''Mystery Bruises'' and ''Pigspurt''. Several were published by [[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]]. He toured them worldwide.  Three of them were performed together at the National Theatre in 1993, as ''The Bald Trilogy: Furtive Nudist, Jamais Vu and Pigspurt''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/8207/past-events/past-productions-19911995.html |title=Past productions 1991-1995 - Past Events - National Theatre |access-date=14 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130095842/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/8207/past-events/past-productions-19911995.html |archive-date=30 November 2011 }}</ref>

Campbell was later commissioned by the National's director [[Trevor Nunn]] to write ''The History of Comedy Part One: Ventriloquism''. The two had previously fallen out when Nunn had been director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1981. Campbell had carefully concocted a press release and a string of personal letters complete with forged signature: Nunn appeared to be announcing that henceforth, as a consequence of the huge success of its recent adaptation of ''[[Nicholas Nickleby (play)|Nicholas Nickleby]]'', the Royal Shakespeare Company would be changing its name to the Royal [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]] Company. Several grandees of the English theatre had been taken in by the hoax. Only when an exasperated Nunn called in [[Scotland Yard]] did Campbell finally own up.

In 1999, Campbell starred with [[Warren Mitchell]] and [[John Fortune]] in ''[['Art' (play)|Art]]'' in London's West End.

In 2001, Campbell staged a version of ''[[Macbeth]]'' in [[pidgin]] English, called Makbed (blong Willum Sekspia). It was the big gun in his campaign to get [[Bislama]], first language of 6,000 inhabitants of the [[Oceania|South Pacific]] islands of [[Republic of Vanuatu|Vanuatu]], formally adopted as a world language (''wol wantok''). The virtue of Bislama was that with a bit of determination you could pick it up in an afternoon. Campbell argued that, in certain respects, Macbeth in pidgin was better than the original. If nothing else, the campaign had the effect of bringing to a wider public the Bislama for [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Philip]]: ''Nambawan bigfala emi blong Misis Kwin'' ("Number one big fellow him belong Mrs Queen").

With [[Alan Moore]], [[Bill Drummond]], [[Mixmaster Morris]] and [[Coldcut]], he appeared at the [[Royal Festival Hall]] in 2007 in a memorial tribute to [[Robert Anton Wilson]], co-author of the Illuminatus! novels.{{CN|date=July 2024}}

In July 2008, [[Staffordshire University]] awarded Campbell an [[Honorary degree|honorary doctorate]], labelling him one of Staffordshire's "greatest living success stories", a reference to his time as [[artist in residence]] in 1967 at [[Stoke-on-Trent]]'s Victoria Theatre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/news_and_events/staffs-uni-announces-honours-list-tcm4216831.jsp|title=Staffs Uni Announces Honours List|last=Staff writer|date=July 2008|publisher=University of Staffordshire|access-date=14 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803110250/http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about_us/news_and_events/staffs-uni-announces-honours-list-tcm4216831.jsp|archive-date=3 August 2008}}</ref>

Campbell final television appearance was on 6 September 2009, over a year after his death, in the first of a new series of [[Marple (ITV TV series)|''Marple'']] on [[ITV Network|ITV]]. He played Crump; his wife was played by [[Wendy Richard]].

==The School of Night==
[[File:The School of Night logo plus seven fraters.jpg|thumbnail|left]]On 23 April 2005, Ken Campbell was asked by [[Mark Rylance]], the artistic director of [[Shakespeare's Globe]], to stage a celebration of Shakespeare's work. Campbell responded with ''Shall we Shog?'', a show in which actors played competitive improvisational games against each other in the idiom of Shakespeare. These included games like 'flyting' (a tournament of increasingly outrageous insults); an explanation and demonstration of the 'Nub' (a piece of poetic-sounding doggerel an actor uses to give himself a breathing space when he has forgotten his lines - the first sentence should contain the word 'nub' to warn the others that the actor is in trouble, and it should end with the words "Milford Haven"); and fastest recitation of Hamlet's [[To be, or not to be]] soliloquy; among many others.

Campbell continued working with some of the actors from ''Shall We Shog'', shedding and adding more along the way. He presented a series of literary improvisation shows, including a run at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] called ''Décor Without Production'', in which the cast would create scenes and songs in the styles of poets, playwrights, novelists and songwriters.

In 2006, Campbell worked with [[Adam Meggido]]'s theatre company the Sticking Place (now Extempore Theatre) and staged a run of ''In Pursuit of Cardenio'' at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]], during which the cast were supposed to re-create a lost Shakespeare play through improvisational techniques. In practice it turned into a nightly-changing series of literary challenges for the performers. By the latter part of the run, a large section of the show was devoted to improvised songs. One example of the extent to which Campbell pushed the actors was that by the end, each member of cast had developed four musical styles in which they could improvise, each corresponding to a different Elizabethan humour. They would then perform fully sung-through scenes, swapping humours and song styles mid-sentence as the scene or Campbell demanded.

The Cardenio shows used Campbell's now well-established "Goader and Rhapsodes" technique, in which the goader (Campbell) pushed the rhapsodes (the cast) into feats that they would not be able to achieve without the pressure he could apply.

The group eventually consolidated and settled on the name "The School of Night", after [[The School of Night|Sir Walter Raleigh's secret society]]. Raleigh's School of Night (also called The School of Atheism) was a group of highly literate and intellectual men who would meet to discuss forbidden topics. Campbell's take on it was that the group,{{which|date=February 2014}} which included playwrights and poets, were steeped in the art of extemporisation and would create from scratch, in perfect meter, plays and poems.

Campbell's School of Night group has become well known in the improvisational theatre and comedy scene, putting on shows and workshops and appearing in festivals as far afield as Elisnore Castle, the Wiesbaden Summer Improv Festival and the Improvaganza festival in Edmonton, Canada, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; and returning several times to Shakespeare's Globe.

In 2007, the work on singing in various styles of music that Campbell developed also led two of the members of the School of Night—[[Adam Meggido]] and Dylan Emery—to develop an improvised musical. The resulting show, which while not directed by Campbell, was enormously influenced by him, became ''[[Showstopper! The Improvised Musical]]''. Its first run in Edinburgh was in 2008; it returned in subsequent years and has become something of a fringe institution. The show continues to tour and has had a [[BBC Radio 4]] series. A West End run in 2016 won the [[Laurence Olivier Award|Olivier]] for Best Entertainment and Family.

Campbell performed with 'The Showstoppers' in August 2008 in their second Edinburgh Fringe, reprising his School of Night role as on-stage director of proceedings in the final six shows of the run. For these performances, instead of taking suggestions from the audience regarding the setting and title of the show, Campbell had previously asked a number of professional theatre critics to each write a review of an imaginary musical; after this review was read onstage, the company's task would be to realise the show whose details they had only just heard. Campbell's last performance was on 24 August 2008, one week before he died.

==Personal life==
Campbell married the actress [[Prunella Gee]] in 1978, and they had a daughter, [[Daisy Eris Campbell|Daisy]]. They divorced in 1983 but remained close friends.<ref name="telegraph.co.uk"/> He was in a relationship with the [[Ventriloquism|ventriloquist]] and actress [[Nina Conti]] when she was 26 and he was 59; from him she inherited his collection of ventriloquist dummies.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/nina-conti-the-acclaimed-ventriloquist-on-the-seductions-of-acting-and-throatsinging-8599847.html 'Nina Conti: The acclaimed ventriloquist on the seductions of acting and throat-singing'] ''[[The Independent]]'' 5 May 2013</ref><ref>[http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-06-13/nina-conti-a-ventriloquists-story-bbc4--review 'Nina Conti: A Ventriloquist's Story, BBC4 – review'] ''[[Radio Times]]'' 13 June 2012</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/mar/15/nina-conti-ventriloquist-ken-campbell 'Nina Conti: 'I feel it's not in my film how much I miss Ken'] ''[[The Guardian]]'' 15 March 2012</ref>

Campbell lived in [[Loughton]], adjacent to [[Epping Forest]], in a nineteenth-century Swiss chalet. His funeral, a [[Natural burial|woodland burial]] in [[Epping Forest]], was attended by mourners with whom he had worked in the theatre.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2008/09/10/a-fond-farewell-in-epping-forest/#more-399|title=A fond farewell in Epping Forest|last=Coveney|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Coveney|date=10 September 2008|publisher=Whatsonstage.com|access-date=13 October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915032727/http://blogs.whatsonstage.com/2008/09/10/a-fond-farewell-in-epping-forest/#more-399|archive-date=15 September 2008}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1967|| ''[[Poor Cow]]'' || Mr. Jacks ||
|-
|1968|| ''[[Inspector Clouseau (film)|Inspector Clouseau]]'' || Reporter || Uncredited
|-
|1976|| ''Justine'' || Dubourg ||
|-
|1979|| data-sort-value="Tempest, The" | ''[[The Tempest (1979 film)|The Tempest]]'' || Gonzalo, an honest councillor ||
|-
|1979|| ''Phoelix'' || ||
|-
|1980|| ''[[Breaking Glass (film)|Breaking Glass]]'' || Publican ||
|-
|1982|| ''Uliisses'' <ref>{{Cite web|title=Uliisses|url=http://wernernekes.de/00_shop1/?p=productsMore&iProduct=4&sName=uliisses|website=Werner Nekes|access-date=17 October 2021|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017042211/http://wernernekes.de/00_shop1/?p=productsMore&iProduct=4&sName=uliisses|url-status=dead}}</ref>|| ||
|-
|1985|| ''[[Joshua Then and Now (film)|Joshua Then and Now]]'' || Sidney Murdoch ||
|-
|1985|| data-sort-value="Zed & Two Noughts, A" | ''[[A Zed & Two Noughts]]'' || Stephen Pipe ||
|-
|1985|| ''[[Dreamchild]]'' || Radio Sound Effects Man / March Hare || Voice
|-
|1985|| ''[[Letter to Brezhnev]]'' || Reporter ||
|-
|1986|| ''[[Smart Money (1986 film)|Smart Money]]'' || Mr. Sayles ||
|-
|1988|| data-sort-value="Fish Called Wanda, A" | ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'' || Bartlett ||
|-
|1989|| ''[[Scandal (1989 film)|Scandal]]'' || Editor of Pictorial ||
|-
|1990|| ''[[Wings of Fame]]'' || Head Waiter ||
|-
|1990|| ''Crimestrike'' || Julius Ceaser ||
|-
|1992|| ''[[Secret Nation]]'' || Parkinson ||
|-
|1998|| ''[[Extraordinary Visitor]]'' || Rodney ||
|-
|2000|| ''[[Saving Grace (2000 film)|Saving Grace]]'' || Sgt. Alfred ||
|-
|2004|| ''[[Creep (2004 film)|Creep]]'' || Arthur ||
|-
|2008|| Marple: A Pocketful of Rye || Crump ||
|}

==Bibliography==
*1972 - ''You See the Thing Is This: A One Act Comedy'' ({{ISBN|0-237-74966-1}})
*1972 - ''Old King Cole'' ({{ISBN|1-870259-12-2}})
*1975 - ''Skungpoomery'' ({{ISBN|0-413-67520-3}})
*1976 - ''Jack Sheppard'' ({{ISBN|0-333-19623-6}})
*1991 - ''Recollections of a Furtive Nudist'' ({{ISBN|1-871503-03-5}})
*1993 - ''Pigspurt: Or Six Pigs from Happiness'' ({{ISBN|0-413-68100-9}})
*1995 - ''The Bald Trilogy'' ({{ISBN|0-413-69080-6}}) - a volume collecting together ''Furtive Nudist'', ''Pigspurt'' and ''Jamais Vu''
*1996 - ''Violin time; or, the Lady from Montségur'' ({{ISBN|0-413-70960-4}})
*2000 - ''Wol Wantok'' ({{ISBN|1-84166-039-6}}) - a [[pidgin]] English version of [[Macbeth]]
*2011 - [[Michael Coveney|Coveney, Michael]], ''Ken Campbell: The Great Caper'', [[Nick Hern Books]], London ({{ISBN|978-1-84842-076-2}})
*2011 - Merrifield, Jeff, ''Seeker! Ken Campbell: His Five Amazing Lives'', Playback Publications, Shetland ({{ISBN|978-0-9558905-4-3}})

==Legacy==

Many contemporary performers cite Ken Campbell as an influence early in their careers, including [[Richard Herring]], [[Nina Conti]], [[Cariad Lloyd]], [[Diane Morgan]] and [[Michael Brunström]].<ref>[https://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_edinburgh/2012_08_nina_conti_christian_reilly/ British Comedy Guide - Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast - Nina Conti]</ref><ref>[https://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_lst_podcast/episode_99_cariad_lloyd/ British Comedy Guide - Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcase - Cariad Lloyd]</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bdx3ff BBC Radio 4 Extra - When Diane Met Ken]</ref><ref>[https://www.comedy.co.uk/live/fgwg/michael_brunstrom/ British Comedy Guide - First Gig, Worst Gig - Michael Brunström]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{External links|date=February 2017}}
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/Campbell%20on%20Beadlian%20Library.mp3 Campbell on BBC Radio 3, on the Library of the Peculiar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003160540/http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/Campbell%20on%20Beadlian%20Library.mp3 |date=3 October 2018 }} & [[Jeremy Beadle]]
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/sftol.htm Jeff Merrifield on putting Illuminatus! on stage]
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/pidgmak.htm ''Macbeth'' in pidgin English, 1998]
* [http://www.cix.co.uk/~shutters/warp.htm Background to ''The Warp'' and full script]
* [http://caunter.ca/KenCampbell11Dec1992GreenRoomManchester.mp3 Recording of performance in Manchester of The Captain sequence from ''Pigspurt'', December 1992]
* {{IMDb name|id=0132631|name=Ken Campbell}}

===Interviews===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070517170337/http://www.theatrevoice.com/listen_now/player/?audioID=255 2004 recording of Campbell on the origins of Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010406045936/http://www.frogboy.freeuk.com/ken.html Interview with James Nye, 1991]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/arts/features/story/0,,1667974,00.html ''Guardian'' interview, 2005]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/arts/features/story/0,11710,1672140,00.html ''Guardian'' interview about Campbell's work in theatrical improvisation, 2005]

===Obituaries===
* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/09/farewell_ken_campbell.html Michael Billington, ''The Guardian'', with tributes from friends and fans, 1 September 2008]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campbell?gusrc=rss&feed=stage Michael Coveney, ''The Guardian'', 1 September 2008]
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html ''The Daily Telegraph'', 1 September 2008]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/582b14ac-794f-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html Ian Shuttleworth, ''The Financial Times'', 3 September 2008]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090430201401/http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/obituaries/1470/ken_campbell.html ''Fortean Times'', November 2008]
* [http://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2008/09/01/7332/ken_campbell%3A_an_obituary Mark Borkowski, ''Chortle'', UK comedy website, 1 September 2008]
* [http://beescope.blogspot.com/2008/09/laef-emi-sado-blong-wokabaot.html ''Thompson's Bank of Communicable Desire'' - includes audio on origin of the pidgin ''Macbeth'' & the One-Minute ''Warp'']
* [http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546 Gemma Bodinetz, artistic director of the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925081320/http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546 |date=25 September 2008 }}
* [https://archive.today/20130209090809/http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821220542175&title=Complicite%92s+McBurney+Remembers+Ken+Campbell ''What's on Stage'' tribute] from [[Simon McBurney]] of [[Complicite]]
* [http://blogs.forteana.org/node/59 The Fortean Institute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011041706/http://blogs.forteana.org/node/59 |date=11 October 2008 }}
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ken-campbell-actor-writer-and-director-famed-for-his-epic-plays-and-oneman-shows-917169.html ''The Independent'', 3 September 2008]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100525035238/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4655952.ece ''The Times'', 1 September 2008]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130120191427/http://www.liverpoolconfidential.co.uk/News-and-Comment/Ken-Campbell-legend-dies-at-66 ''Liverpool Confidential'']
* [http://www.oblomovka.com/wp/2008/09/01/ken-campbell-is-dead/ Oblomovka] [[Danny O'Brien (journalist)|Danny O'Brien]]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7593589.stm BBC News]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/lastword_05sep2008.shtml BBC Radio 4's ''Last Word'']
* [https://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/oct/11/ken-campbell-richard-eyre ''My Much-Missed Madcap Friend''] by [[Richard Eyre]], ''The Guardian'', 11 October 2009

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ken}}
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