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The Isle of Skye in November is no place to go for a tan, but it’s great if you’re shooting a commercial for Welly boots!
On Tuesday last a car arrived at 6am, and I was whisked to Gatwick for a flight to Inverness, and thence across Scotland to the land of Flora Macdonald. We shot in a mix of sparkling sunshine and driving sleet – but it was a really enjoyable gig – a stunning location, a great production team and a wondrous hotel. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist clicking away.
The hotel is the Kinloch Lodge. It’s run by famous cookery expert – and wife to the High Chief of the Clan – Claire MacDonald. The rooms, the views, and above all the food are to die for. I felt just a slight pang of nostalgia for my youthful days as an actor. Working on a good project with a good director and supportive producer, and a skilled team who know how to mix work and fun – there are worse ways to earn a crust. The product we were creating the ad. for is very respectable too – nay, posh, Hunters being the bee’s knees when it comes to Wellies.
This picture is of me in character as Old Tom – note the extremely Celtic beard – and you will observe that Tom has a finely-tuned sense of good footwear.
The 40-second story features the local plumber (Leo Boyle) and Tom the Crofter (me) in an exchange about the joys of Christmas – dramatic stuff, with a surprise finish. Look out for it – it’s shot by an expert director, Simon Aboud, who has lots of impressive credits, not least the tantalising promotion for Paul McCartney’s song “Queenie-Eye”, which has just accumulated more than 2 million hits on YouTube.
Leaving behind my heady 40 seconds of stardom in Scotland, I’ve been back checking what’s afoot onstage in London. If you’re coming into London in the next few weeks and need cheering up after battling through Oxford St, or Brent Cross, or Westfield – all of which are already HEAVING with Christmas shoppers, be warned – then head straightway to the St James’s Theatre in Victoria, and/or to the Duke of Yorks in St Martin’s Lane.
There are worries about the future of the St James Theatre – it’s only been functioning in its current form for a year or so, and already there are rumours that its owners may want to offer it for conferences and such rather than shows. This would be a huge pity, as the director David Gilmour and his team have brought us some great work, and the place has become a welcome and welcoming off-West End venue. One problem has been that it’s not that easy to find, so when you go to see the latest piece, the way to get there is to walk from Victoria Station along Victoria St towards the House of Parliament, and turn LEFT opposite Westminster Cathedral (the red-brick Cathedral, not the Abbey) and walk up between the glistening new plate-glass walls of Cathedral Walk.
Your journey will be well-rewarded by “The Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)” by Sarah Ruhl. The play was first done in New York, and this UK production received great reviews earlier this year at the Ustinov Studio, Bath Theatre Royal. Sarah Ruhl is a seriously good writer, and it’s a fine piece, mingling terrific comedy with shrewd observation and comment. Think George Bernard Shaw at his best – his very best – dealing with the impact of the invention of the electric vibrator on polite late nineteenth century western society – in a beautifully-designed (by Simon Kenny) skilfully-directed (by Laurence Boswell) production. Great pace, smashing acting all round – lots and lots of laughs, with touching and reflective passages – Madeline Appiah is very moving as an exploited wet-nurse. 
Our Radagrad Edward Bennett (fresh from touring the world in “One man Two Guv’nors”) does a predictably brilliant turn as a wayward libertine painter getting what can only be called a horizontal comeuppance…
Meanwhile along the way, just north of Trafalgar Square, three more Radagrads are creating a sensation in “Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense”. Ed Bennett tells me he was involved in showcasing early drafts of the clever adaptation by Robert and David Goodale, but was told he couldn’t be in it because he isn’t (yet) an above-the-title commercial “name”. 
Fair enough, in the West End you need names to sell tickets, and when you’ve got Matthew MacFadyen as Jeeves and Steve Mangan as Bertie (both grads from my early days at Gower St) you’re going to sell lots.
To be frank these performances knock television memories of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie into the proverbial cocked hat. The spirit they embody is much nearer the vintage black-and-while 1960s TV adaptation starring Iain Carmichael and Dennis Price, but they make it very much their own. They are supported by equally brilliant work by Mark Hadfield. He plays Bertie Wooster’s aunt’s butler Seppings, who in turn shares playing all the other characters with Matthew’s Jeeves. Hats off to them all, and to the brilliance of director Sean Foley.
Winter is descending, the horrors of Christmas shopping are mounting. Take comfort. Go to the theatre. Go enjoy the vibrations in Victoria, and the sheer joy of invention on display in St Martin’s Lane.
STOP PRESS: Let’s hear it for Hull! Bingo! The city where I was a child and a teenager, the city where I had my first fateful job, stepping through the stage door of the New Theatre…..City of Culture now – such a journey since Philip Larkin wrote his great poem “Here” – look it up by clicking on this link:
http://modernkicks.typepad.com/modern_kicks/2005/01/nothing_to_be_s.html
