 ALAN Bleasdale suffers badly from stage fright - but he's not going to let it stop him from appearing in front of a packed Philharmonic Hall for the Liverpool ECHO Tsunami Gala Concert. The award-winning playwright says: "The stage fright might be a big deal to me, but in the great scheme of things it isn't a big deal; it's absolutely laughable. "I've suffered from it for more than 10 years and I keep retiring from public life and from making public appearances. Then I come back because, sometimes, you just can't say 'No.'" And, he adds: "This is one of the times. When you see pictures as shocking as the ones we have seen then it puts all your own pathetic, small worries into perspective." Like millions of others, Alan will never forget how he felt on Boxing Day when he saw those first reports of the devastation and destruction sweeping across Asia. "It's a Christmas none of us can surely ever forget. Next Christmas, we'll all be saying 'Good God, just remember what happened last Boxing Day.'" And the colossal human tragedy which was being played out on our TV screens had a particular resonance because his 31-year-old daughter, Tamana, has many friends who live in Thailand. Alan explains: "Tamana is a first assistant director and she worked on a film in Thailand several years ago. She became great friends with the many Thai people who worked on the film in Phuket and that, of course, was one of the places that was hit. "So on Boxing Day Tamana was beside herself and, like so many other people in this country, desperately trying to make contact with people on the 'phone. Fortunately, all her friends survived." Alan has already written the address he will deliver at the gala concert on Friday, February 11. It is hoped it will raise more than £50,000 to help those affected by the tsunami crisis. Performers will include Claire Sweeney, Gerry Marsden, Mike McCartney, Pete Wylie and Brian Nash, who was the guitarist with former chart-topping Liverpool band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. "I think, possibly, I might be able to say something people will be able to identify with, without giving them headaches," says Alan. "But it's not a lecture hall and I'm not going to be giving a lecture." | 
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