Clive, Theatre Royal, Plymouth

Photo: Susan Owen

Last year I learned to drive. I started lessons in November 2023 and then I passed my test on 13 May. It was like the next logical step after getting GCSEs (Clive got his English and Maths GCSEs in 2021 at the age of 58) and a level three diploma in acting.

I moved out of my flat and I live in a caravan now and I’ve got a van after saving up for eight years. It’s made an incredible difference. I can get to work outside the theatre and I don’t have to struggle in the wind and rain to get there. Whenever there is a show on at the theatre, I’m there selling the magazine. A couple of weeks ago, it was the ballet and that really helped enormously. The ballet and the opera are the two big shows for me.

I used to do a bit of acting at the theatre but I’ve pulled back from it because my dog is going to be 16 on 4 May. He came to a halt at Christmas time and he just didn’t want to do it any more. Once he stopped doing it I had to reevaluate really. Every hour is precious with my little boy. He’s been a quarter of my life, the little fella. So I just work outside until that horrible day when he passes away. Then I’ll get back to doing theatre stuff, writing and performing again. But at the moment, it’s just me and Geezer, enjoying every moment, every day while we’ve got him.

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Half of the van and the caravan is his. Me and him earned that money over the eight years of saving every penny we could get hold of, it’s no drinking, no smoking, no takeaways, no nothing. Just saving. Eventually we’ve managed to get ourselves on the road. I’ve moved out of my flat about eight weeks ago. I’ve had some really nightmare neighbours come in and out of that place. I’ve been dying to move out and go somewhere else.

Big Issue is my main bit of socialising. If it wasn’t for the lovely people that come to the theatre in the evening and the matinees, all I’d have to do is talk to Geezer. It really helps me with my mental health because I’ve got PTSD and then I’ve got EUPD, which is emotionally unstable personality disorder. Without my little dog next to me, my moods really go haywire and I can’t control myself very well.

That’s the beauty of being a Big Issue vendor, I can be there for as long as I feel happy to be there but if something unsettling happens I can pack up and go to find a way to calm down again. Big Issue, for me, has been a lifesaver ever since I first started doing it in Covent Garden in 2004.

Being there when people come out of the theatre is the most important part of my job because you’re saying thank you to the people that were kind enough to buy it going in. That’s what gets you remembered. That’s what people appreciate. I can’t thank the theatregoers enough really. They really are my bread and butter and now that I’m not on benefits they are my only support. The staff that work in there are really lovely to me. I feel like the 12th man in the football team in some ways.

I’m really loving living in the caravan. There are no neighbours. I can come and go as I please. It’s a really nice, completely different lifestyle. It’s something I’ve always wanted but I could never get the money together. When I gave up alcohol eight years ago, I thought maybe this can happen, maybe that can happen, all these little secret dreams that you have when your life seems to be coming back together. That was the biggest dream I could have hoped for and now I’ve actually done it. Now it’s me out on the road with my little dog and it’s just in time for his last years.

Words: Liam Geraghty

Theatre Royal Plymouth (TRP), Royal Parade, Plymouth, UK