Jeffrey Bernard is unwell Press Review

Robert’s new stage performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell started on 22th March and the critics are very good!

• The Bath Chronicle states that :

“Some might be tempted to say – and I certainly would certainly be one of them – that Robert Powell gives a far more engaging portrayal of the alcoholic journalist than Peter O'Toole did in the original production which came to Bath prior to its opening in London's West End back in 1989.”

• The Evening Post gives us  an interview with Robert  in which he talks about his choice of leaving Holby City :

 “you can't stay cosy for too long. I've always believed and said that and I had to follow my own example really.

"I needed to put myself under the cosh again and do something more stretching. So here I am.”

 

• And finally The Guardian presents and article about playing drunks on stage and there’s a bit about Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell :

There are instances in which legendary drunks have inspired equally legendary performances. Keith Waterhouse's portrayal of his colleague, the Spectator columnist Jeffrey Bernard, provided a fermented peach of a role for Peter O'Toole and, later, Tom Conti. Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell has now been revived for a national tour featuring Robert Powell, whose familiarity with the play's bar-room milieu has armed him with useful insight into the potentially messy "egg trick", a favoured party piece involving a pint glass, a matchbox and a raw egg.

 

"I was fortunate enough to know Keith Waterhouse and to see him demonstrate the egg trick on several occasions," Powell says. "I've got it right every time in rehearsal so far." Yet hilarious though the play is, there are aspects of Bernard's character that are no laughing matter: "There's a big distinction between playing someone who is drunk and someone who was never sober," Powell says. "If there's one thing that tends to unite alcoholics it is a deep self-loathing that causes them to gravitate towards other alcoholics for company."

 

I'm so happy to know the critics are excellent! (that's the least we can expect about Robert!). I wish I could see the play!! (and him! of course! and the famous egg trick...)

 

Thanks for reading!