At the weekend I had a wonderful trip to London. Michael and I went to see 'The Entertainer' at the Old Vic. I'd never been to a theatre as grand as the Old Vic not to see a play anyhow. It was drenched with atmosphere. They had some great photos on the walls of old productions. This one is of Robert Helpmann (who was the child catcher in chitty chitty bang bang) playing Oberon.



The theatre feels so old. It was first opened in 1818. The chairs creek loudly if you make the slightest move and aren't exactly comfortable. The stage looks aged and worn. But that makes it all the more exciting, over the years all the greats would have trod those boards, so much magic in one room. This photograph is from the programme. We were sat just under the last twinkly light on the left.


I came to want to see 'The Entertainer' through my love of Alan Bates films. In the 1960 film version Laurence Olivier plays 'Archie Rice' and Alan Bates plays his son (Olivier also played the part on the stage.) In writing 'The Entertainer' John Osbourne's aim was to reflect the state of post-war Britain and a pretty grim picture he paints too. It is set in 1957 during the Suez Crisis. Archie Rice is an aging, womanising, Music Hall entertainer who along with his long suffering wife, father, daughter, and son is rather fond of a drink or two. The family, during a visit from their daughter, hear about the kidnap of their youngest son, who is in the army in the Middle East but really that's just a little of what they have to contend with.


Last year I read in the paper that Robert Lindsay had wanted the part of Archie Rice because Olivier had once written to him advising that he would be great for it. I'm a huge fan of Robert Lindsey. He's what I would call a real actor. I love old films but I find it's quite difficult to find the same quality of acting these days. I'm not sure what is lacking really, charisma maybe, but whatever it is Robert Lindsay has it. He has a way of making you like the character even when they're a complete bastard. Citizen Smith, Nightingales and GBH are all a case in point and they also have to be among my all time top TV programmes. Really, I couldn't recommend them highly enough.


Needless to say Robert was fantastic. It felt like the first time I'd really experienced the 'magic' of theatre. Pam Ferris who plays Archie's wife was just incredible too. She was completely unrecognizable from the other parts I've seen her play (I have to admit I'm rather partial to the odd episode of Rosemary and Thyme, the crime fighting gardeners.)


After the show we went to a theatre bar across the road, next to the Young Vic. I just liked this picture. You can just see us in the top left hand corner of the mirror huddled round our drinks.