The Dresser (2015); BBC 2, 31st Oct, 21.00 hrs

[Stanley Stewart]

Much cheered to learn on the day when '...the bright day is done and we are for the dark', for several months, that Ronald Harwood's stage play, The Dresser, 1980, has been adapted and directed for TV by Richard Eyre with Anthony Hopkins as the thespian grandee and Ian McKellen, his dresser, now in the roles played by Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in the 1983 film version. Tony (he was my class colleague at RADA) will sweep the boards in ostensibly a sharp study of the great Donald Wolfit, a veritable monster, I gather, but I have vivid memories of seeing him play Lear, Volpone, Iago and Richard III, in the mid 40s when I was still at school. Ten years later, I was mesmerised at the Old Vic watching him dominate the stage as Tamburlaine - they really don't make them like that any more! - although I did chortle when he took his final bow, clinging to the traverse curtain with sheer exhaustion. A performance in itself. Most of all, I'm keen to watch the interplay between the two actors - I bet the rehearsals were hilarious as well as volatile - and keep a sharp eye on how Sir Ian will side-step his gay characterisation in the TV series, Vicious, partnered by Derek Jacobi. Stop the clocks at 9pm next Saturday; my phone will be off-the-hook for the following 105 mins!

[Nick Armstrong]

Unmissable!

[Stanley Stewart]

A heads-up for the screening of The Dresser (2015) on BBC 2 tonight, (31 Oct), 21,00hrs.

An enjoyable week with Bernstein memorabilia but sufficent time to watch an off-air video DVD of The Dresser, 1983 film version, directed by Peter Yates and revisit Ronald Harwood's biography of Sir Donald Wolfit, (Secker & Warburg 1971)His life and work in the unfashionable theatre, and how the author developed a close friendship with 'Sir' over several decades.

In turn, I will not be looking for 'the best' in two versions of the play as major actors like Tony Hopkins and Ian McKellen will instinctively direct their creative juices in probing the innermost feeling of their psyche to live in the moment, as do Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in the earlier version. Director, Peter Yates used Bradford for location work, including the elegant but cavernous Alhambra Theatre - I've been there, done that, in my time on the boards! - and shrewdly captured a draconian age in a wartime setting. I'd almost forgotten that the play has a disturbing subtext and, in many ways, the thespian company manager with no public subsidy, and his waspish dresser, Norman, are both pathetic and tragic figures - a sense of a dangerous, raging anger always simmering. I warmed to Quentin Crisp's appraisal: "...It is not an American picture, it is not like 42nd Street. It is British and therefore tells a tale not of effortless overnight success but of day by day humiliation and defeat...It is utterly joyless. I can only claim that it tells its grim tale with sparks of humour and in merciless detail."

I shall refrain from personal Wolfit anecdotes but the last time I saw Sir Donald was seeing him in the mid-60s, briskly leave the Ritz hotel, immaculate in appearance, and striding along the pavement at Green Park, brandishing his walking stick to hail a taxi with Falstaffian vigour!

My favourite moment in the film was Albert Finney looking in his dressing room mirror, before applying a Leichner base of No 5 and 9 to his face, muttering "Another blank page" - the significance made me shudder with sheer intense pleasure as the phrase is the personification of what it's all about.

[Stanley Stewart]

Gutted, exhilarated and ecstatic as I watched Richard Eyre's production of The Dresser on BBC 2. Time to think-on as I select a Late Beethoven String Quartet to match the potency and chamber quality of the interpretation. In the meantime, the production will be discussed on BBC 4, Ronald Harwood in Conversation with Richard Eyre, Sunday, 1st Nov, 20.00hrs, preceded by Derek Jacobi on Garrick at 1930 hrs. Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC will follow the Harwood interview at 21.00-22.00hrs. Tony Hall is honouring his commitment to drama coverage!

[ardcarp]

Gutted, exhilarated and ecstatic as I watched Richard Eyre's production of The Dresser on BBC 2.

[Stanley Stewart]

I selected Beethoven St Qt, Op 130, (Tallich Qt) for bedtime listening, as following a late night cuppa tea, I retired drunk with pleasure and totally fractured by the evening's viewing with so many attendant memories. Even got up at the crack of dawn, to ensure that both versions of The Dresser were now safely recorded on DVD, much gratified to see both titles safely delivered. Retired to my truckle bed and delighted to be woken by a recording of Ariel's, 'Come unto these yellow sands' on James Jolly's presentation of Sunday Morning; further memories of the much missed Ian Charleson singing this at a NT social 'do' in the late 80s. There I go!

I'll steep myself in the double-bill over the next few months to savour so many memorable moments in both versions. I was touched to the quick by the emotional impact of Tony Hopkins breakdown at his premonition of approaching death, his gradual development of understatement through his distinguished career - I remember the young RADA student whose rage and frustration would make him knock the wall with his head at rehearsals and his ghastly struggle and touch-and-go battle with alcoholism for several years, before he found relaxation and inner peace - the dividends made me weep as I watched him at work last night. But, of course the title role - and the billing! - went to Ian McKellen; the interaction between this pair a masterclass in itself. Pleasure, too, in seeing the vignette by Edward Fox, the only actor two appear in both versions. There, not many people know that! Sarah Lancashire's stage manager will also linger in my memory and how well Emily Watson brought dignity to the role of Her Ladyship, the much abused Rosalind Iden. I need time to structure so many memories and reach out to ghosts from the past. A final indulgence. At our first day at the RADA, principal, John Fernald, addressed a keen assembly of new students. First, the truism that on any given day, 90% of actors were out of work and the probabllity was that in 10 years time only a small percentage would still be in the biz. Reality faced us from Day1. In closing, he also appealed to those of us who gained accreditation as leading players to, please, behave ourselves. In a later conversation he told me that some months earlier his production of Ibsen's Ghosts; a first rate cast with Flora Robson as Mrs Alving and Michael Hordern as Pastor Manders, transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre and Hordern had to withdraw due to other commitments. He was replaced by Donald Wolfit, obstructive and seething with resentment throughout. Of course, The Dresser is only based on the career of the irascible thespian but the great actor at his best was a formidable talent who left an indelible presence.

[Lat-Literal]

I selected Beethoven St Qt, Op 130, (Tallich Qt) for bedtime listening, as following a late night cuppa tea, I retired drunk with pleasure and totally fractured by the evening's viewing with so many attendant memories. Even got up at the crack of dawn, to ensure that both versions of The Dresser were now safely recorded on DVD, much gratified to see both titles safely delivered. Retired to my truckle bed and delighted to be woken by a recording of Ariel's, 'Come unto these yellow sands' on James Jolly's presentation of Sunday Morning; further memories of the much missed Ian Charleson singing this at a NT social 'do' in the late 80s. There I go!

I'll steep myself in the double-bill over the next few months to savour so many memorable moments in both versions. I was touched to the quick by the emotional impact of Tony Hopkins breakdown at his premonition of approaching death, his gradual development of understatement through his distinguished career - I remember the young RADA student whose rage and frustration would make him knock the wall with his head at rehearsals and his ghastly struggle and touch-and-go battle with alcoholism for several years, before he found relaxation and inner peace - the dividends made me weep as I watched him at work last night. But, of course the title role - and the billing! - went to Ian McKellen; the interaction between this pair a masterclass in itself. Pleasure, too, in seeing the vignette by Edward Fox, the only actor two appear in both versions. There, not many people know that! Sarah Lancashire's stage manager will also linger in my memory and how well Emily Watson brought dignity to the role of Her Ladyship, the much abused Rosalind Iden. I need time to structure so many memories and reach out to ghosts from the past. A final indulgence. At our first day at the RADA, principal, John Fernald, addressed a keen assembly of new students. First, the truism that on any given day, 90% of actors were out of work and the probabllity was that in 10 years time only a small percentage would still be in the biz. Reality faced us from Day1. In closing, he also appealed to those of us who gained accreditation as leading players to, please, behave ourselves. In a later conversation he told me that some months earlier his production of Ibsen's Ghosts; a first rate cast with Flora Robson as Mrs Alving and Michael Hordern as Pastor Manders, transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre and Hordern had to withdraw due to other commitments. He was replaced by Donald Wolfit, obstructive and seething with resentment throughout. Of course, The Dresser is only based on the career of the irascible thespian but the great actor at his best was a formidable talent who left an indelible presence.

A very, very, interesting post, Stanley.

I had it in my mind that the station in the 1983 film was York but the internet is suggesting Crewe.

If anyone can clarify this matter, I would appreciate it.

[Stanley Stewart]

Thank you, L-L. Indeed, I can guarantee that it was, indeed, York - you can even see the Station Hotel in the background as the train departed for, ostensibly for Bradford. The closing credits also include appreciation to Eastern Region trains. I was London based when the film was made although I made regular weekend visits to York and recall chat at the York Arms pub about the filmed location sequence.

I watched both film versions, now on an off-air recording, yesterday afternoon before wallowing in the sheer pleasure of the Richard Eyre/Ronald Harwood 60mins conversation in the evening. So many personal memories!

[Lat-Literal]

Thank you, L-L. Indeed, I can guarantee that it was, indeed, York - you can even see the Station Hotel in the background as the train departed for, ostensibly for Bradford. The closing credits also include appreciation to Eastern Region trains. I was London based when the film was made although I made regular weekend visits to York and recall chat at the York Arms pub about the filmed location sequence.

I watched both film versions, now on an off-air recording, yesterday afternoon before wallowing in the sheer pleasure of the Richard Eyre/Ronald Harwood 60mins conversation in the evening. So many personal memories!

Ah, I felt sure it was York. When I first saw the clip - it was probably during a film award ceremony on television - I thought York. Only a year or so earlier, it was the appearance and the atmosphere of York station that had contributed to my decision to move to York. That atmosphere. It was conveyed in the film. I don't know when the filming was done.
I was living very close to the station as the crow flies in 1983 but only from October. Earlier on, it was Heslington and I don't think we knew of any filming that was taking place.

[jean]

Just caught up with this fascinating conversation between Richard Eyre and Ronald Harwood - only nine days left if you haven't seen it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ns2pd

(The railway station incident actually happened at Crewe.)