"Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell"

by Keith Waterhouse

Directed by Andrew Close

6th to 11th November, 2000

Gambler, journalist, fervent alcoholic and four-times married Jeffrey Bernard wrote the "Low Life" column for the Spectator magazine chronicling Soho life as well as offering a very personal philosophy on vodka, women and race-courses.

From this, Keith Waterhouse has brilliantly constructed a play (the title being the euphemism used by the Spectator when Bernard was incapable of writing his column) which is set in the saloon bar of Bernard's favourite Soho pub, the Coach and Horses.

Having passed out in the lavatory, Bernard awakes in the early hours of the morning to find himself alone and in the dark. Unable to contact the landlord he is resigned to spending the rest of the night with a bottle of vodka and an endless chain of cigarettes narrating a story of hilarious anecdotes and witty reminiscences which are enacted by two actors and two actresses who bring to life the various characters who populate Jeff's world. The play enjoyed a hugely successful run at the Apollo Theatre, London and had a similarly successful revival with the original Jeffrey, Peter O'Toole, at the Old Vic for a strictly limited run in 1999

Winner of the 1990 Evening Standard Theatre Award for 'Best Comedy'

Press comment on the West End production:

• "... this is a script that will also give bad language a good name. The text is a spiralling literary delight, vivid and dark, hilariously funny and mordantly malign" - Financial Times
• "... Keith Waterhouse has fashioned a first-rate play: witty, humane, generous, sad and infinitely more than a journalistic in-joke. It is actually a play about stylish self-destruction, but what makes it fascinating is that the self on display is such a rich one... On the surface this is a very funny show indeed, brimming with crisp one-liners and comic set pieces... Mr Waterhouse deserves great credit for shaping the material so that it leads us gradually towards a contemplation of mortality, decay and the crucial recognition that, for a toper on this scale, another marriage is impossible" - Guardian

For the Garrick:-

Cast members include:-

• Jeffrey Bernard - Dick Sails
  Poets, Hacks, Wives, Girlfriends, Thespians, Publicans, Sinners, Policemen, Waiters, Friends, Neighbours, Jockeys, Trainers, Bores, Artists, Doctors, Nurses, Customs & Excise Officials, Magistrate, Drunks, Tarts played by
• Hugh Everett
• Lesley Hornsby
• Mike Shaw
• Val Watkinson

Copyright © 2007, Altrincham Garrick Playhouse