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Saturday 22 November 2008

Two old stagers find vigour in Brief Lives

Tim Walker talks to the theatrical veterans Roy Dotrice and Patrick Garland about their long-awaited return to the work of John Aubrey

Dotrice, dressed in jeans, a Garrick tie and a blazer, is struggling with a gruesome cough, but as I arrive he delivers the play’s final words in a gentle, affecting but understated way. This production is important to him. Scarcely six months ago, his beloved wife Kay died suddenly of a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 78. They had been married for more than 60 years and it had, says Dotrice, been Kay’s express wish that he should do the play.

‘I’d never agree to do anything without talking to her about it first. She was a great actress herself and always knew instinctively how parts should be played. I’d started reading Aubrey through with her not long before she died. She felt I had become far too hammy in the part by the time I did my final performances in the role in 1974. I was chasing after the laughs too much. This time I am doing it the way she wanted me to. I’m getting back to basics.’

Dotrice has three daughters by Kay: Michele, who played Frank Spencer’s wife in Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em and, more recently, appeared in Vanity Fair; Karen, who was in the film Mary Poppins and the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs; and Yvette, who was perhaps best known for the television series Crossroads.

All three have, with their spouses, rallied round but, for all that they have helped, it has been John Aubrey who has probably been the most instrumental in getting Dotrice back on his feet again. ‘I’d been discussing the idea with Patrick for a while. My initial reaction was that it would be fun to get reacquainted with Aubrey. In the event, the project has proved a godsend. It has given me a sense of direction and a sense of purpose at a time when I have desperately needed both. I wanted to start work on this as soon as possible after Kay’s death as I saw it very much as my tribute to her.’

The lines in the play about death have a resonance for Dotrice that they didn’t have when he last uttered them on stage. He feels more compassionate towards the character who, like a lot of elderly men, lives his life in the past. ‘I think actors who play the same parts over long period of time go one of two ways — either they switch to autopilot or they get into an ever more intimate relationship with the character. I have taken the second route.’

More articles from: Tim Walker | this section

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