WHEN Arthur Smith came up with the title of his first Leonard Cohen show in 2000 it was a bit of a joke.

“It sounded like the grimmest form of entertainment imaginable,” he laughs in that familiar throaty rasp.

“I’d always admired Leonard Cohen’s stuff and I kind of sound a bit like him. As time goes on I’m beginning to look like him – or at least a cross between him and Rupert Murdoch.”

This tour is based around his second visit to Cohen’s back catalogue which he took to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and to London’s Soho Theatre in February.

The musical palatte has expanded from just the guitar which accompanied him on stage in 2000, to three female multi-instrumentalists, led by pianist Kirsty Newton, reflecting Cohen’s own more orchestrated touring sound today.

“I had a few subjects I wanted to write about and certain songs I want to do,” says Smith. The only song which features in his first Cohen show and the touring version of his 2013 performance is the revolutionary call to arms First We Take Manhattan.

“It took a long time to find the themes of what I was talking about, and songs that would reference it. I wanted to get the rhythm of the show right – you can’t just have endless droney downbeat songs.”

To put the show together he went to the glamorous location of an Eastbourne Travelodge with co-writer John Dowie.

He admits it was a grim time – not least because of the crisis he was going through with his mother who was developing symptoms of dementia.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” he remembers. “I went for a walk in the snow in a sense of despair and found myself at the top of Beachy Head!

“It was a very hard show to write – I was fearful that it was going to be a big flop. As it turned out a lot of it came together through Kirsty and my brilliant backing singers.”

He has been enjoying the touring experience of being part of a band.

“In the show we say Leonard slept with 260 of his backing singers and none of them regret it,” he says. “I have slept with none of mine, and none of them regret it...”

The show sees Smith cover sections from songs, in between stories, poems and jokes.

Along the way he has learned a lot about his hero.

“He is a very funny man if you listen,” he says. “I always enjoy singing that line in Tower Of Song when he says: ‘I was born like this, I had no choice/I was born with the gift of a golden voice.’ “He has got a golden voice in a way – but not in the manner of Kiri Te Kanawa.

“He is amazing in that a lot of people in his line of work get famous early on and end up just doing all their early songs. He has written an incredibly large number of songs throughout his career which are incredibly good.

“He had a miserable time in his 60s, but now when you see him on stage he is so graceful, he seems surprised that he’s still alive!”

Smith wrote the show before Cohen’s latest album Popular Problems came out – but he hasn’t discounted the possibility of a third volume of Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen.

“With Volume Two my voice has got lower and closer to Leonard’s,” he says. “He’s a wonderful poet and there were themes I wanted to pick out.

“My mother’s dementia may not sound like a good subject for laughs but there is quite a happy ending to the story.

“I talk about how I’m 60 and the crises he came to when he was 60.

“Forgetfulness, despair and growing old are all present in a lot of Cohen’s work.”

Indeed it was losing all his money to his former manager which saw Cohen leave his retirement at a Buddhist retreat and return to the road.

“Having done that he felt reinvigorated,” says Smith. “It was related to him finding his voice again.

“I haven’t met him, although we have exchanged letters. I’m hoping he might shuffle on stage and say ‘well done’ one night.”

  • Starts 7.30pm
  • Tickets £19.50
  • Call 08448 717650