| Playing Burton directed by Mark Jenkins |
Richard Burton |
| Redbranch Productions in association with the Irish Repertory Theatre. , The Irish Repertory Theatre – Scott McLucas Studio. New York , September 8, 2003 |
| Richard Burton died nearly twenty years ago at age 58, after a lifetime of drinking, smoking and womanising, including his scandalous liaison with Elizabeth Taylor. But beyond the gossip, he was, of course, a very great actor, with an inimitable voice and style. So it takes some chutzpah on Brian Mallon’s part to play Burton. Mallon, however, does a fine job of capturing the sonorous voice, body language and even physicality, the latter mostly through pure acting prowess. Mallon’s obvious fluency with Welsh provides another asset, as Welsh was Burton’s first language. The play traverses Burton’s mentoring by teacher, Philip Burton, his discovery by impresario Binky Beaumont (an amusing impersonation by Mallon, who does many other characters throughout the evening), his early Hollywood years, the original Broadway production of ‘Camelot’, the fateful events with Taylor during the filming of ‘Cleopatra’ and the calamities of later years, The play’s framework – similar in many ways to ‘Say Goodnight, Gracie’ – has a post-death Burton looking back on his life. This allows Burton the chance to rail against those who felt he squandered his talent and missed out on greatness. Mark Jenkins’ play (first done abroad in 1992) and Mallon’s performance make a convincing case to prove otherwise. Mallon offers well-acted snippets of Burton’s great roles (e.g ‘Doctor Faustus’ and ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf’). This production, directed by Jenkins, makes for an absorbing evening, even if events are necessarily streamlined and condensed. The sound design by Don Donnelly, Mark Hankla’s lighting set and David Toser’s costume design provide modest but effective accompaniment. As far as recent portrayals of famous people go, Mallon’s – like Frank Gorshin as George Burns – is one of the best. Though somewhat less an out-and-out impersonation, he captures Burton’s essence in a virtuoso portrayal. |
Reviewed by: Harry Forbes. BACKSTAGE |
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