On the 27th December 1936 in a penthouse suite high above the streets of New York a meeting took place between a young, beautiful and very much in demand actor, John Gielgud, and the playwright Edward Sheldon. It was to change both their lives forever.
Gielgud wrote, ‘I had an extraordinary time this afternoon. Edward Sheldon who wrote ‘Romance’ and other successful plays has been stricken with some appalling petrifying paralysis for fourteen years and is blind too. All the well known stage people go to see him, talk to him and act scenes from their plays and ask his advice.... he talks with consummate ease and charm, as if he had known you all his life.... Read more …
The Man Who Lived Twice is a dramatised account of what took place between these two men, the ‘crippled muse’ and the ‘fastidious actor’, who a few days later returned to give the performance of his life….
A play about love, longing and the unreliability of macaws.
Put simply it’s the best production I’ve seen from the company. And one I have no hesitation in recommending.
Paul Cunningham (Sheldon) and Laurie Brown (Gielgud) work intelligently to transcend the overlay of 1930s affectation, and meandering exposition, that mask the issues raised by their characters' self-imposed "untouchability". As for the arch presence of an aged, waspish Mrs Patrick Campbell - Funny? almost. Necessary? No.
It’s flawed, uneven, occasionally beautiful stuff.
Alison Peebles’ production achieves a romantic, heightened atmosphere through stylised design, intermittent songs and the ingenious device of having Sheldon’s macaw Archie pass comment on the action, and while Robson’s text is wordy and occasionally expositional, its main theme, of hiding from oneself and the world, is poignantly, quietly brought into focus at the end.
To its credit, the production does not suffer from the problem you’d expect when an actor has to play Gielgud – Brown pulls it off admirably with no hint of hubris, and even Jones gets away with doubling as Mrs Patrick Campbell, albeit with too little actorly grandeur. But what they can’t do is give clarity to a script that provides too little indication about what the characters want and what’s driving them to talk as endlessly as they do.
The Man Who Lived Twice
The Man Who Lived Twice production from Brids of Paradise
Photograph by Eamonn McGoldrickOn Tour, from Wednesday March 7, 2012, until Thursday April 5, 2012.
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