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Review Round-up: Lindsay Is Critically Entertaining

Robert Lindsay (pictured) plays veteran comedian Archie Rice - a part immortalised by Laurence Olivier - in the 50th anniversary revival of John Osborne’s The Entertainer, which opened last night (Wednesday 7 March 2007, previews from 23 February) at the Old Vic (See News, 9 May 2006).

Best known for his TV appearances in the likes of Citizen Smith, My Family and Jericho, Lindsay’s stage credits include Me and My Girl, Oliver!, Cyrano de Bergarac, Richard III and Power (his last London stage appearance, at the National in 2003). Sean Holmes’ production also stars John Normington as Archie’s dad Billy Rice, Emma Cunniffe as his daughter Jean, David Dawson as his son Frank, and Pam Ferris as his long-suffering alcoholic wife Phoebe.

Set in the 1950s in a society on the brink of change and at war over the Suez Canal, Osborne's drama follows an embittered and struggling music hall comedian trying to keep a semblance of happiness within his dysfunctional family.

Overnight critics were hugely impressed with Lindsay’s performance in the central role, and admired the way his wittiness and bitterness both spilled over from his act into his family life. They also noted how Osborne’s play was ahead of its time, as, 50 years after it was written, the parallels between life then and life now – with war in the Middle East and families worrying about the safe return of their soldier sons – are startlingly clear.

Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (4 stars ) – “I was caught in a haze of nostalgia, amusement and high emotion. The Entertainer… has dated and matured as well as vintage cheese. In his pale blue suit, with a darker shade of blue jokes in his armoury, Robert Lindsay makes that third-rate song, tap-dance and smutty-patter man, Archie Rice, an irresistible comic turn…. Lindsay almost manages to paper over The Entertainer’s structural flaws, its redundant third act and sentimentalities…. Lindsay falls short, though, when it comes to Archie's underlying sense of anger and despair…. Sean Holmes' over-statuesque production, with designer Anthony Lamble's huge green proscenium curtains and a blown-up photo of a seaside resort, makes it seem as if The Entertainer moves between a music hall stage and the scene of a Fifties drama…. Archie's father Billy, played to comic, plaintive perfection by John Normington, is presented as a far superior sort of music hall artist…. Pam Ferris in vehement emotional form as Archie's lower-class wife, whom he intends to trade in for a much younger model, chatters nervously to her listless step-daughter…. The Entertainer paints an enthralling picture, both grim and comically captivating, of Britain in the grip of escapist fantasy.”

- by Caroline Ansdell

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