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drinks Monday 4 August 08
A Very Naughty Boy - The Life of Graham Chapman
Verdict: Magnificent
Edinburgh - Pleasance Courtyard - August 03
Graham Chapman was famous for his membership of Monty Python. He was charming, and almost a doctor. He was gay when it was called being queer and a criminal offence. He smoked a pipe.
The basic facts of Graham Chapman's life are well-known - to those who are interested. And - in a time of mass celebrity - not necessarily interesting. Entertainers' biographies often contain the same ingredients - drugs, sex, early death, and smoking. Graham Chapman's story is, however, made spectacular by this remarkable play, and not just because he smoked a pipe.
We meet Chapman (Adrian Poynton) in military uniform as a Python character. We cut to his heavy drinking, apparently to overcome shyness. It's superbly portrayed as a spoof boxing match with Chapman and gin-and-tonics defeating himself (imaginative direction from Toni Arthur-Hay).
Chapman narrates his birth, and being brought up under brother John's shadow. He resents being fast-tracked into Cambridge because his brother was there first. The interview's enacted with Tom Price as interviewer. It's a piece of classic Python. Having set up the situation, the main part of the play is batted between John Cleese (Tom Price) and the adult Graham Chapman.
The play explains how Cleese and Chapman met, and how it took Cleese until Chapman's death to stop seeing him as 'a problem', and realise the depth of their
long-standing friendship.
Chapman's alcoholism arises from shyness and a terror of forgetting lines. There are glasses of vodka all over the set. He drinks a bottle of spirits between 9 and 10.30 in the morning. Cleese is enraged at Chapman's fluffed lines in (the film) Monty Python And The Holy Grail. There are further problems in The Life Of Brian. But it is Chapman himself who cures his alcoholism, suddenly, and permanently.
Chapman discovers and announces his homosexuality. The reactions of his parents are showed in a scene of heart-touching honesty - a dramatic highlight of the show.
Chapman's death from cancer unites his friends in their affection for him. The challenge of death is one he is shown to bear with the same humour, strength and consideration for others this delightful play exposes.
Adrian Poynton creates a Chapman of delight and conviction. The diffidence, shyness, and firm resolution of the character are evoked by an actor of astounding ability - and fine pipe technique. Adrian Poynton's script is a masterpiece of taut, effective writing, blessed with elegance and a fine lyrical quality. Tom Price delivers a magnificent Cleese (and several other characters). He looks nothing like him, yet captures the essence of Cleese, and holds the audience. Tom Price's use of his eyes to convey the character's apparent thoughts is a joy to behold. Toni Arthur-Hay directs with relentless precision and a fine eye for powerful moments of drama. Her creative and imaginative feel for Adrian Poynton's masterful script deliver a magnificent piece of theatre.
Credits (alpha order): Adrian Poynton (Graham Chapman), Tom Price (John Cleese). Writer - Adrian Poynton. Director - Toni Arthur-Hay. Flyer design www.ullapix.com. Company - Vivienne Smith Management. Tom Price appears by arrangement with Lisa Thomas and Karushi Management. Technicals - Pleasance staff.
END
John Park
reviewed Friday 22 August 03 / Edinburgh / Pleasance Courtyard
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
