Anna Burnside reviews a production that ‘falls flat’.
A mortally hungover Fra Fee wanders on stage, his trousers tucked into his socks. With the house lights up, he sets the scene, stand-up comedy style. He is a playwright, commissioned by a small theatre in the Highlands of Scotland that we will not have heard of, to write a play about Liberace.
Problem - he can’t stand Liberace.
As he’s holding forth, the back of the dowdy set opens to reveal Simon Russell Beale as the human disco ball, raised on a hoist, wearing a sparkling cape.
And so the debate between author and character begins. Why, Liberace wonders, is the writer fixating on his 1959 trial against the Daily Mirror. That would be the one in which Liberace libelled himself by denying he’s gay.
If this all sounds like a daft bit of fun, it could have been. Liberace flirts outrageously with the writer. His “piano” is two twinks in hotpants and keyboard crop tops.
Yet it falls flat. Beale lets the wardrobe and design do the initial work and takes a while to warm up. Why are the only female characters, both played by Anne Lacey, ludicrous stereotypes? And the plot twist at the end is undermined by the appearance on stage of the play’s actual writer, Martin Sherman.
Expecting a behind-the-scenes veteran in his ninth decade to act beside Simon Russell Beale, even in third gear, is not a good idea.
I’ll Be Seeing You does no justice to the talents involved. Sherman, who wrote Bent, has a lifetime of insight to bring to this subject matter. Annie Lacey deserves to be more than a visual joke. And surely co-directors Ben Occhipinti and Alan Cumming have enough experience to know the difference between deliciously camp entertainment and self-indulgence.
I’ll Be Seeing You performs at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until 11 October 2026. For further details, go to the company’s website.
Photo by Tiu Makkonen.
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