From a thriller to a tragedy

Creditors, owed thousands of pounds, have been unable to find him but The Argus this week tracked Mr Kennedy to a side street in Worthing where he was selling his old Mercedes saloon.

Our investgators, posing as car buyers, arranged to meet him in Eriswell Road and, when we arrived, we revealed our identities.

Mr Kennedy, looking disheveled and unshaven, wanted to say nothing at first but eventually apologised for his failure, saying: "I'm ashamed of myself."

He promised to try to get new backers for his play and would pay back creditors from the proceeds.

But few now would take him seriously.

Mr Kennedy booked theatres including Eastbourne's Devonshire Park for an 12-week tour with Whodunnit, a play he wrote under the name Robert J Lindsay.

First night was Tuesday, September 6, at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield.

Three days later the cast and staff were still waiting to be paid but all successive bookings crashed.

One of the 14 actors left stranded was Brighton's Bruce Montague who played Leonard in the TV comedy hit Butterflies.

He told The Argus: "I didn't get paid and I also turned down the chance to do Christmas panto on the strength of this commitment."

Mr Kennedy hired actors, stage hands and a photographer while friends loaned him money to back the play.

Some were surprised when, during rehearsals, Mr Kennedy flew to Antigua for two weeks to attend his son's wedding, a trip reportedly paid for by his son.

The Whodunnit team was relieved when he returned but some members now wish he'd stayed in the Caribbean and the play had never opened.

One creditor, Andy Cloke, a 40-year-old Brighton photographer, was Mr Kennedy's lodger two years ago when the producer lived in White Street, Brighton.

Mr Cloke said: "He was very sociable and artistic but I always felt there was something about him."

Mr Kennedy hired Mr Cloke to take photographs of the show and help build the sets.

He was paid £250 but he said he was still owed more than £1,500.

He said: "He sent me two cheques and both turned out to be made of rubber.

"Some of the actors signed up for £1,000 a week and all of them lost out.

"I feel cheated but I'm past being angry with him and actually feel a little sorry for him."

Mr Cloke said Mr Kennedy was now trying to earn cash by buying and selling at car boot sales.

One creditor bumped into Mr Kennedy recently at a flea market at Worthing Pavilion.

Diane Pyle first met Mr Kennedy at her sister's Arcade Antiques in Nevill Road, Rottingdean, Brighton.

She said: "He had a stall in my sister's shop. He was always very helpful and friendly."

Ms Pyle agreed to give Mr Kennedy £1,200 when he said he needed backing money as he was trying to sign up Madonna for a role in a play.

Ms Pyle said she was promised a percentage of the house takings which would earn her £8,000 plus free tickets and a chance to meet Madonna back stage.

That project fell through but Mr Kennedy later asked Ms Pyle for more money to back his Whodunnit play.

She is still owed her money and was doubly insulted when a cheque Mr Kennedy gave her was rejected by her bank the moment she put it over the counter.

Diane said: "I spotted Rob at the flea market in Worthing the other day and asked about my money.

"He told me he didn't know me, that he recently had undergone brain surgery for a tumour.

"You just don't know what to believe. What I do know is that he also still owes rent to my sister for the stall in her shop.

"But there's no point in getting cross with him and I find myself actually pitying him. Maybe he'll pay me back one day."

The Argus asked Mr Kennedy about the tumour and he turned to show the back of his head. No scar was visible. Asked was he receiving treatment or medication, Mr Kennedy replied: "I don't want to talk about it."

He said: "People will eventually get their money. I'm hoping to get another backer and I will pay them back with the proceeds.

"I feel disgusted and depressed - I nearly committed suicide.

"I've let myself down, my daughter (who designed the sets), actors and the theatres.

"I'm trying to work for a living, doing odd jobs.

"I've lost about £40,000 in this thing. I put everything I had in the world into it.

"It was underfunded - I had a backer who, just before the play opened, suddenly upped his percentage of takings to 70 per cent."

Mr Kennedy declined to identify the backer.

He said: "I had a couple of other backers but, by the time their cheques cleared, it was too late for the actors.

"I'm sorry for everything I did. It just overran me. I know I have got to disappear again. You won't see me any more.

"I'm trying to rebuild my life but if you put this in the paper it will destroy me again.

"I will try my hardest to raise money to put this play on again, hopefully next year some time."

Mr Kennedy ended the conversation and drove off in his Y-registered green Mercedes.

Many people The Argus spoke to felt sorry for Mr Kennedy.

Mr Montague's agent Marilyn Collis said: "It is terribly sad, really.

"I hope this doesn't give the public the wrong idea about producers. This is a very isolated case but deeply disappointing.

"This sort of thing has happened with Mr Kennedy once before when he was reported to Equity (the actors' union).

"I had hoped he had learnt his lesson but, unfortunately, he is back where he was."

Martin Brown, spokesman for Equity, said Mr Kennedy was on their "special attention" list following the collapse of a production in London in the mid-Nineties.

It meant, he said, actors should think carefully before signing contracts with anyone on the list.

Mr Brown said: "We have had legal judgment against Mr Kennedy and that case has not yet been resolved.

"A member had taken work with Mr Kennedy. There was nearly £5,000 involved and the member did not get the money."

Mr Brown said Mr Kennedy at one time had been banned from fringe venues in London.

Actors stranded by the Whodunnit collapse included Adele Anderson, Christopher Beeny, Naomi Lewis and Elizabeth Power, Michael Aspel's ex-wife.

Two more Sussex actors in the cast, Geoffrey Davies, from Doctor in the House, and Nick Wilton, were less than pleased.

Barry Burnett, their agent, said: "Both were angry with themselves.

"We all knew about Rob Kennedy but we wanted to give him another chance."

Mr Burnett said his clients had been told by Mr Kennedy that the reason Whodunnit collapsed was because his backer had died.

He was surprised by the account Mr Kennedy gave The Argus that his backer had demanded too much.

Liz Woodall, manager of Chesterfield's Pomegranate Theatre, said the collapse couldn't have come at a worse time.

She told The Argus: "It was the first week of our new season.

"Whodunnit was a nice show with good names in it.

"We'd had experience of Mr Kennedy before - he had been involved in some excellent productions in the past."

She said Mr Kennedy had previously been involved with successful producer Lee Dean in Gallery Productions.

Mr Dean went on to great successes and in 2000 won a Tony award for Best Play with Copenhagen.

Ms Woodall said: "Clearly, Mr Dean was the successful side of the arrangement."

She told of the moment Whodunnit collapsed.

She said: "Members were in the auditorium on that Friday with Equity's noon deadline for money fast approaching.

"We were hoping against hope the money would come through but, sadly, it didn't. The actors didn't get paid and we had to refund people who bought tickets."

The play was due to open in Exeter, Eastbourne, Peterborough, Blackburn, Newcastle and Billingham in Yorkshire.

It was scheduled for Eastbourne's Devonshire Park in late September.

Chris Jordan, Devonshire Park's general manager, said he had doubts about the play because of Mr Kennedy's past and Mr Kennedy's failure to supply publicity literature. He said he wasn't surprised the production collapsed but only two Devonshire Park tickets had been sold and they were refunded.

The theatre stayed closed that week but there were other productions at municipal venues in the town. He said: "It wasn't a disaster."

One stage hand who lost money was relying on his pay to finance a trip to Thailand.

Another said: "It was a great shame and I feel sorry for Rob but you have to tell people or let them know what has happened. You have to warn them about giving him money.

"It's ironic really.

"The play is a whodunnit but the story really is a tragedy."