| Playing Burton |
Richard Burton |
| Rosebud Productions , Wales Millenium Centre , January 7, 2004 |
| Review by Iwan Davies in South Wales Argus, 18.12.04 This magnificent show is an absolute must-see for Richard Burton aficionados and lovers of theatre everywhere. Now in its twelfth year, Playing Burton has played at the Sydney Opera House, off-Broadway, Los Angeles and is a truly world-class play, right on our doorstep. Four actors have played the role to great acclaim Welshman Josh Richards, New Zealander ray Henwood, Englishman George Telfer and now Irish-American Brian Mallon, who is absolutely magnificent. Superlatives abound for this mesmerising performance. He simply is Burton, from the voice, the looks, the mannerisms, right down to the way he draws on his cigarette. The autobiographical style of the play skims through the Hollywood hellraiser’s roller-coaster life from its beginning as the son of alcoholic miner ‘Dic Bach’ in Pontrhydyfen to his untimely death in 1984 after also suffering from the ravages of drink. Along the way we are treated to wonderful, witty and tragic anecdotes, including his friendships with the Kennedys and the two mischievous Celtic cousins, Peter O’Toole and Dylan Thomas, who were also rather too fond of the bottle – ‘Dylan didn’t know when to stop. And I didn’t want to.’ We also get the inevitable doomed love-hate relationship with Elizabeth Taylor which propelled Burton from respected theatre thesp and sometime B-movie star into a superstar, and resulted in the break up of the marriage to his beloved first wife Sybil. The excellent script by Mark Jenkins, whose latest play, Rosebud, picked up top awards recently at Edinburgh, crackles along. Playing Burton is an intense, spell-binding show of the highest quality, which must be seen! |
Reviewed by: Iwan Davies |
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