Clive comes full circle at the CFT
Clive Francis comes full circle with The Circle by Somerset Maugham at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Hewasintheplayatthefestival Theatre back in 1976 in a cast including Googie Withers, John Mccallum and Martin Jarvis. Now,movingthroughthegenerations,cliveisbackinanewproduction – alongside Jane Asher and Nicholas Le Prevost – from Tuesday, January 30-Saturday, February 3.
Clive is thrilled to be back at a venue which remains deeply special to him, full of fond memories of the day he came across fromeastbourne,wherehegrew up, as a 14-year-old to see the landmark Uncle Vanya productioninthecft’sveryfirstseason back in 1962.
Clivestartedoutinrepinbexhill: “I started in weekly rep and it was the hardest inauguration into the theatre that you can imagine.iusedtorunbetweenbexhill and Eastbourne all the time beforeiwenttoradaandtheni wouldcomebackintheholidays. Then it got to the point where they started to say that I could play a part. I was in The Secret Tent by Arthur Brough. I played the village idiot!”
A decade later, Clive was in The Circle in Chichester: “My first season there was just extraordinary. I had Googie and John in the one play and I was with Rex Harrison in another play, Monsieur Perrichon's Travels which was not a very good play and it was not well receivedandrightlysobutrexwas a tour de force and we got on like a house on fire.”
Clive is delighted to return to Thecirclenow:“ithappensvery rarely.thereisasimongrayplay ortwowhereihaveplayednearly every part over the years but to go from the young lad to playing the older character is actually a one-off for me. And it's a delightful play. And I'm so pleased that it's been so well received. It was quiterisqueinitstime,amarried womanleavingherhusbandbut people commented on the wit, the wit of Coward, the wit of Rattigan and even a little bit of the wit of Wilde.”
Somerset Maugham plays aren’t seen so very much these days: “I suppose it is fashion but this one has survived wonderfully over the years and it has wonderful leading roles for elderlypeople,ificanputitpolitely.ithinkthisisactuallymythird stage marriage with Jane Asher... even if we are estranged in particularshow!butitissogreat tocometochichesteragain.i've been dying to come back. It is such a special theatre – always such a special place to play.”