All about Alec... Two Halves of Guinness, Park Theatre

 

You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Two halves of Guinness turned out to be two pints far fuller than empty and featuring a life overflowing with stories and character. Alec Guinness was the epitome of post-war British performers with iconic roles for Ealing and for David Lean, all topped off by his Obi-Wan Kenobi role for which the unconvinced Shakespearean was paid $150,000 plus 2.25% of profits and in which he featured in three sequels, and even in the latest episodes with The Force Awakens in 2015.

Fair to say, whilst he appreciated the money, Sir Alec was not that enamoured with “the fairy tale” science fantasy and at the start of this play we see an interaction with a fan during which the actor agrees to misquote a line from the film – “may the Force be with you…” on that condition that the young enthusiast never watched the film again.

The remarkable Zeb Soanes not only inhabits the character of his subject but also the man’s attempt to work out the value of his career and the issues that drove him. Soanes sounds enough like Guinness to quickly gain the audience’s confidence and as he asks for contributions offering other roles he has been in, he recognises and contextualises them all off script although I don’t think he quite caught my suggestion of the Llandudno-based comedy, The Card. Kind Hearts and Coronets, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Tinker Tailor… there’s no end of worthwhile work and all over so many decades.

The Entertaining Mr Soanes. (Photo by Danny Kaan) 

The play is written by written by Mark Burgess and is an extension of his original play from 2010 with new research adding to already meticulous details of career and character following Zeb’s request to perform the play again. All of the diligence allows the actor plenty of room to repeat key anecdotes with relish and, remarkably, to provide all the voices too from Sir Ralph Richardson to Sir Laurence Olivier and all points in between. Soanes also portrays Guinness’s mother – who turned up at the stage door on far too many pay days looking for a drink – as well as addressing the unknown ghost of his father who, unlike Hamlet’s, never answers back. The actor never knew who his father was – the entry was blank on his birth certificate – although he suspected it may have been his “Uncle”, Scottish banker, Andrew Geddes who paid for his boarding-school education at Pembroke Lodge.

Unsure of who he actually was and with such uncertainty in his relationship to the fixed point of his mother, Guinness resolved to be everybody who he could through acting – there may have been a deep-seated need to find himself in his roles although as with Peter Sellars, losing himself may have been just a much the aim.

Family uncertainty fed into fiscal frailty as the almost penniless actor tried to get a scholarship at RADA only for it to fall through – they were perhaps expecting some of the other Guinness family fortune? But on the same day he obtained a scholarship at another acting school, Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art, and his career began. He had boldly asked Sir John Gielgud's to offer him acting training and the two met with the older man offering him brief advice and recommending the skills of Martita Hunt at £1 a session… it was she who told him to always stress the noun before the verb giving rise to his distinctive vocal cadence.

Zeb Soanes. (Photo by Danny Kaan)

There after we’re taken on a tour of Guinness’ progress as his early-stage career is interrupted by his service in the Royal Navy during World War Two before he returned to the Old Vic and theatre. His first feature film was David Lean’s Great Expectations (1947) and he was to work with the great director on a number of occasions. Soanes is great in showing the then 33-year-old’s change of posture and accent to become Fagin proving Lean wrong in his assertion he could play that role and is such good value in retelling stories of the director.

One of these involves Lean bullying Sessue Hayakawa into giving a tearful performance as the Japanese camp commander Colonel Saito breaks down. This is as Guinness saw it but Hayakawa was an actor of such experience – a silent film great – I’m not sure how much encouragement he would have needed. But actors in the moments between being themselves may leave a trace of imagination in their recollections… this is Guinness on Guinness.

I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square.

Soanes quickly dies eight times in tribute to Guinness’ multiple parts in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1948), it’s a parlour trick but there’s no doubting that the actor could and did make those roles quite distinct. This ability to reimagine yourself from some kind of null space may have been linked to the actor’s own uncertain identity: Hitchcock may have turned his audience into voyeurs but here we’re light-heartedly urged to join the psychiatric dots in the manner of one of Sir Alec’s own… not least in relation to his family life and his sexuality with his list of London steam bathhouses for post-performance relaxation being a lengthy one.

Onwards across The Bridge, through the desert and finally up into space and that galaxy, far, far away until, at the last, a remarkable thing happens as piece by piece, Zeb appears to transform into Guinness as George Smiley… it’s a stunning impersonation; for once the noun accentuated just after the verb. Had we been hypnotised?

One actor in search of eight characters...

IThankYouTheatre verdict: ***** This play just flies by in a thoroughly engrossing blur of knowing flicks and revelatory twists as Zeb Soanes pays tribute to the man who inspired him to become an actor* and whose memory he has taken such care to preserve. Two Halves of Guinness is poured out with as much love and attention as the malted barley beer in the finest bars of O’Connell Street. You are in safe hands and will emerge feeling refreshed and enriched: Guinness is good for you whatever the measure.

Ably directed by noted actor Selina Cadell who has an increasingly impressive list of directorial credits including Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya for the Donmar, Great Expectations at the Garrick and Hamlet starring Eddie Izzard.

As for Zeb Soanes he shows performance dexterity of the highest order and whilst he might be better known as a radio presenter he is a man of many parts – not just the 34 in this play! – and has always maintained his acting career. He played Derek Nimmo in the radio drama All Mouth and Trousers, by this play's author Mark Burgess… which reminds me of my father’s plans for a play with his old school friend Derek – Quarry Bank Grammar School knocked the scouse out of their accents but Nimmo as with Guinness could be who he wanted to be.

Two Halves of Guinness plays at the Park Theatre until 2^nd May, do not miss it! Details of tickets are available right here.

*In the programme, there’s a copy of a note from Guinness to young Zeb when he wrote to him in his teens. Very similar to Guinness contacting Gielgud – the virtuous cycle of courtesy and encouragement!