Raising a glass to a legendary boozer
THIS line won’t be on the poster — not yet anyway — but ‘you can be tipsy but not legless’ to watch a one-man version of Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, the classic Keith Waterhouse study of a boozer, staged in the pub where the columnist got up to his most shameless shenanigans.
The play, a hit for Peter o’Toole when he portrayed Bernard, has been adapted by director James Hillier, with permission from Waterhouse’s estate, into a solo vehicle. The part isn’t cast yet, but the show will run at the late Bernard’s local, The Coach And Horses in Soho, from May 7.
There will be four or five performances a week — including a midnight show on Saturday ‘followed by a lock-in until five in the morning,’ Hillier said. The director was approached with the idea by landlord Alistair Choat, who has been fighting the Fuller’s brewery, which takes charge of the pub in June. ‘The play will remind people that the pub is a historic site, full of characters,’ Hillier said.
Audiences will be able to purchase a pint, wine or spirits. However, Hillier warned they shouldn’t turn up too far gone for the midnight show. ‘The landlord doesn’t want anyone really p****d, or legless. Mildly tipsy is fine.’
The show provides a brilliant last glance at Soho before it became an area of ghastly food chains. Its title reflects how when Bernard was unable to write his Low Life column for The Spectator because he was at his local, a line on his page would read: Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.
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