Burton’s life captured on stage
RHODRI Miles takes on the role of Richard Burton this June at The Atkinson in Southport.
The Welsh actor received critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2009 and also Hollywood fringe festival 2010 – where the play won Best International Show.
Miles – who starred in Game of Thrones, Eastern Promises and Atlantis – vividly presents the life of the great actor in his own words from humble beginnings to Hollywood mega-stardom.
Beautiful women (not least Liz Taylor), alcohol, wealth, stage and screen are the threads woven into this sad, happy, exuberant and often hilarious oneman show.
He saw drink as the only real antidote to his deteriorating health and mental state, his doomed tempestuous relationship with Taylor and his constant guilt over the abandonment of his family.
Miles said: “I think everybody where I’m from loved Richard Burton.
“I was born in Pontarddulais, about six miles away from where he was born.
“He was a great thespian actor, an alcoholic womaniser who often said that his natural disposition to the Celtic gloom was caused by the mist in the hills and the black in the coal, all of it seeping into his very being.
“When you think of Welsh iconic figures, he’s one of them.
“I’ve always wanted to play him.”
The production of Burton, written by Gwynne Edwards and directed by Gareth Armstrong, is set in Switzerland on Burton’s 46th birthday, when he is still married to Elizabeth Taylor but won’t be for much longer.
He was one of 13 children, his father was a coal miner and his mother was a barmaid.
His mother died when he was two and his father was an alcoholic.
He went to live with an actor called Philip Burton, and later changed his name from Richard Jenkins.
Burton can be seen at The Atkinson on Saturday, June 10 at 7pm and tickets are £14 /£12.
For further information and to book please visit theatkinson.co.uk or call box office on 01704 533333.