Part 15 (1/2)

'What about Es wonderfully and, while she , she's surely the kind of person who can do anything she turns her mind to'

Richard's personality once more split before my eyes 'Of course Brilliant I want her,' he said, before riposting, 'Well, if you do, you'll dah the nose for her Oh now, come on, be reasonable She has no experience, no real nareatest talents of her generation and, as such, she'll cost you'

I left Richard to wrestle thehiotiations by shaking his hand on a deal satisfactory to both of him

E worked at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, where Robert had presented his excellently received Ha that Emma and Robert had known each other very very well back then Really jolly well indeed Oh yes well back then Really jolly well indeed Oh yes

Me and My Girl E-rooo one or two cast changes for its West End run John Fortune and Annette Crosbie were unavailable for the transfer, and their roles went to David Horovitch and Emma's mother, Phyllida Law The boys were recast too: the local Chichester lads who had thrown theood spirits were now replaced by London stage-school professionals, ere just as sparky and cheerful and a great deal o one or two cast changes for its West End run John Fortune and Annette Crosbie were unavailable for the transfer, and their roles went to David Horovitch and Emma's mother, Phyllida Law The boys were recast too: the local Chichester lads who had thrown theood spirits were now replaced by London stage-school professionals, ere just as sparky and cheerful and a great deal more streetwise and experienced

The day before the opening, during the interval between the technical run and the evening dress rehearsal, I walked out of the Queen's Theatre stage door with David Horovitch and a group of these boys, heading for a pasta restaurant that they with their Soho savvy had reco bicycle clips to his trousers

'Are you going to join us for spaghetti?' I asked him

'Yes, do!' said the boys

'Oh no,' said Alan, in slightly shocked tones, as if ere inviting hiy in an opiu' Alan Bennett is always excellent at being as much like Alan Bennett as you could reasonably hope A keen mind, a powerful artistic sensibility, a fierce political and social conscience but a s Is it any wonder that he is so loved?

My name was now up in neon on Shaftesbury Avenue I was too eret I do have a photograph of the first-night party I should iine I was very happy I had every reason to be

Paul Eddington was happy too, enjoying a ripe and fruity time in his career He had just been elected to the Garrick Club, which gave hiel Hawthorne had been paid a large sum of money for a TV commercial, which pleased hie sum,' he said happily 'It's to advertise a new Cadbury's chocolate bar called Wispa Nigel whispers in my ear in his Sir Humphrey character half a day's work for the e sum,' he said happily 'It's to advertise a new Cadbury's chocolate bar called Wispa Nigel whispers in my ear in his Sir Humphrey character half a day's work for the most extraordinary fee'

'Gosh,' I said, 'and do Tony Jay and Jonathan Lynn get a good wedge too?'

'Ah!' Paul winced slightly at my mention of the names of the writers and creators of Yes, Minister Yes, Minister, a enuine curiosity as to how these things worked 'Yes Nigel and I had a twinge of guilt about that, so we're sending theood claret'

There is a chasm betriters and performers: for each, life often looks better across the divide, and while I am sure Tony and Jonathan were pleased to receive their case of jolly good claret, I cannot doubt that they el were enjoying As I was to discover, however, writing has its rewards too

One night, as the curtain cahted triumph, 'I can tell you now It's official I'ht the final episode of Yes, Minister Yes, Minister had been broadcast It ended with Ji to the leadershi+p of his party and the country Keeping the secret, Paul told me, had been the hardest job he had ever had had been broadcast It ended with Ji to the leadershi+p of his party and the country Keeping the secret, Paul told me, had been the hardest job he had ever had

I settled into the run of the play There were six evening performances a iththe sa the saht times a week for the next six ud) a show set in a girls' school called Daisy Pulls it Off Daisy Pulls it Off was running, and the cast of schoolgirls and schoolboys in each got on was running, and the cast of schoolgirls and schoolboys in each got on very well together very well together, as you ine Each Wednesday afternoon in the interval between e school feast, the boys hosting in the Queen's one week, the girls in the Globe the next Further along the street stood the Lyric Theatre, where Leonard Rossiter was playing Truscott in a revival of Joe Orton's Loot Loot One evening ere stunned to hear that he had collapsed and died of a heart attack just before going on Only a few months earlier both Toe A sretted the certainty that I would now never eniuses at least asor felt for the desolation such sudden deathsere stunned to hear that he had collapsed and died of a heart attack just before going on Only a few months earlier both Toe A sretted the certainty that I would now never eniuses at least asor felt for the desolation such sudden deaths ht their fao up to Leicester for the opening of Me and My Girl Me and My Girl The plan was to arrive on Thursday for the dress rehearsal, stay on Friday for the first night and be back in London in ti shows of The plan was to arrive on Thursday for the dress rehearsal, stay on Friday for the first night and be back in London in ti shows of Forty Years On Forty Years On Whomy place as Tempest? I was horrified to discover that it would be Alan Bennett hiinal performance from 1968 Horrified, because I would, naturally, -roo of that week

'Oh, Stephen, I've got a funny request I don't know if you'll want to accede, but I'll put it to you anyway'

'Yes?'

'I know you aren't going till Thursday, but would you mind if I went on as Te as well?'

'Oh goodness, not at all Not at all at all' The dear felloas obviously a little nervous and wanted to dip his toes in the water and feel his way back into the role with a smaller matinee audience The wonderful part of it all was that I could now be in that audience and watch hiets to see a production he is in, and whiletheir own part, especially if it is a master like Bennett, I was too much the fan to care if the comparison cast me in the shade Which I kneould After all, he wrote Tempest for himself and he was Alan, for heaven's sake, Bennett

I watched hi-roo'

'Ooh, do you think so, really?'

'I'm so pleased you were on today, but you know,' I said, 'you absolutely didn't need to ease yourself in with a matinee performance, you were perfect froo on today'

'It isn't?'

'To be honest, no'

'Well, then why?'

'Well, you know I've got this film?'

Indeed I did know Alan had written the screenplay for a film called A Private Function A Private Function, which starred Maggie S to catch it over the weekend

'You see,' he said, 'it's the Royal Co, and I wanted a solid excuse not to have to go '

It is a very Bennetty kind of shyness that sees per-forers as less stressful than attending a party

Leicester passed in a blur The dress rehearsal of Me and My Girl Me and My Girl seemed fine, but without an audience it was i comic routines would really work Robert and Eether Robert's coarettes, cushi+ons and any other props that caood outside silent pictures seemed fine, but without an audience it was i comic routines would really work Robert and Eether Robert's coarettes, cushi+ons and any other props that caood outside silent pictures

Me and My Girl Robert Lindsay and Eood-luck bottles of chane, cards, bunches of roses and expressions of faith, hope and gratitude

'Well, we are waiting for the final director now ' said Frank Thornton, adding in his ubrious manner the answer to my unspoken question, ' the audience!'

'Ah!' I nodded at this wise actorly thought

In the end the final director jerked up their thumbs with a loud 'Lambeth Walk' 'Oi!' They stood and cheered at the end for what seemed like half an hour It was a ed each other and sobbed with joy just as they do in the best Hollywood backstage ical and coraphy, Mike Walker's arrangements and a chorus and cast that threw themselves body and soul into every second of the two hours' running ti as I can remember in the theatre

I would not want to be , and I aht of pearly kings and queens and larky high kicks acco a 1930s rum-ti-tum-ti score Nonetheless I was pleased to be involved with so so alien to my usual tastes and which bubbled and bounced with such unaffected lightness of touch and warh spirits We bucked the trend for self-regarding, high-toned, through-sung operatic ed I liked the fact that ere presenting an evening that paid hoins of the word 'enre was Musical Comedy, and we had all hoped that there was still a demand for that kind of theatre At the party I leant forward to a beae

'Do you think,' I yelled in his ear, flaunting on, 'that ill transfer?'

'Sure of it,' said Richard 'Thank you, '

I turned away, a tear in my eye I kne important it is for men to feel that they have finally earned the approval of their fathers

Conspicuous Consumption

Country Cottages, Cheques, Credit Cards and Classic Cars Back in London, the run of Forty Years On Forty Years On continued through Christmas and the New Year I had started to cross off the days on a chart in the dressing-roo on the wall of his cell There is so quite dreadful about what enforced repetition of action and speech does to the brain Experienced stage actors all kno coe where you look down and helplessly watch yourself from above The moment comes to speak your lines and you will either freeze and dry up or say the sa Only a pinch or a kick froh Christmas and the New Year I had started to cross off the days on a chart in the dressing-roo on the wall of his cell There is so quite dreadful about what enforced repetition of action and speech does to the brain Experienced stage actors all kno coe where you look down and helplessly watch yourself from above The moment comes to speak your lines and you will either freeze and dry up or say the sa Only a pinch or a kick from a fellow actor can save you