“Nelson-Joyce was menacing and had an assured confidence in his performance”
In October last year Stephen Clark, the award-winning playwright, librettist and lyricist, died at the all too early age of 55. In 2010 Clark contacted Julian Clary saying that he wanted to write a play for him and the result of that meeting is the staging of Le Grand Mort (translates to The Great Death) for a limited run at the Trafalgar Studios.
The play is a dark two-hander mainly set in a Notting Hill kitchen with flashbacks to an earlier meeting of the duo in a bar. Clary plays Michael, a fifty something architect in whose kitchen the action takes place. His younger guest for the evening is the edgy Tim, played with remarkable conviction by James Nelson-Joyce who recently featured in the TV drama, Little Boy Blue.
The play opens with Michael preparing a meal for the evening. He recites a splendid, expertly written monologue that is superbly delivered by Clary who cleverly accentuates the pace and rhyming couplets of the piece. It was sometimes hard to decide on which to focus – the cooking or the monologue. Fortunately Clary is able to do both with aplomb.
The play itself covers some fairly unpleasant areas of sex and death which whilst at times are very funny, also have a shock feature, particularly the accounts of Michael’s sexualised relationship with his mother. References are also made to the death of, amongst others, Diana, Munroe, Jackson and Presley.
The pace and style of the text changes when Tim arrives and we experience an uncomfortable relationship between both as their dark secrets eventually come out. There is an underlying feeling of discomfort not knowing how the meeting will end and indeed we leave the theatre wondering exactly how these two deeply damaged people will continue or conclude their relationship.
The set is simple, a clean yet mortuary like stainless steel fully functional kitchen with a stunning Vitruvian Man to the side. The lighting enhances the set and whilst the sound is atmospheric it does occasionally feels intrusive. Christopher Renshaw’s direction makes this a fast moving tension filled 90 minute experience.
The undoubtedly talented Mr Clary has a legion of fans that will no doubt enjoy seeing him up close and personal in the small and confined space of the theatre. There is room for around 100 patrons, far removed from the size of audiences to which he has recently been used to playing.
So does he make the transition from camp and innuendo laden comedian to straight actor? In part yes though it does often seem that we are seeing Clary as Clary rather than him taking on a different character. His softness of voice and those head nods to the audience seem too much Clary and not enough Michael. He did however deliver his lines faultlessly and it was a pleasure to be in what was an appreciative audience.
However the star of the show for me was Nelson-Joyce. He was menacing and had an assured confidence in his performance. A bright future is surely ahead of him.
In conclusion then, a rare chance to see Julian Clary in a role that takes him out of his comfort zone, some terrific writing with thought provoking and at times uncomfortable content plus a fabulous performance from James Nelson-Joyce. Time therefore to book a seat if you haven’t already.
“A funny, dark, beautiful play… Le Grand Mort will take me so far out of my comfort zone I may never return.” Julian Clary
Julian Clary is to star in the world première of the black comedy Le Grand Mort. It was written specially for him by four-time Olivier Award nominated writer Stephen Clark (Martin Guerre, Zorro, Love Story, and the play Stripped, which won him a Stephen Jefferson Award), who died at the age of 55 last October.
Directed by Christopher Renshaw, Le Grand Mort will première at Trafalgar Studios from Wednesday 20 September – Saturday 28 October.
In his super stylish, sterilely beautiful Notting Hill kitchen, Michael is preparing dinner for two. As he meticulously cuts the vegetables with almost a surgeon’s precision, he talks, with knife-like wit, about cases in history where the human body has continued to prove useful even after death. As he slices and chops, one wonders who is coming for dinner and what the main course might be. When Tim, his young guest arrives, they engage in a series of funny, thrilling but searingly dangerous mind games, as they try to unravel the reasons why they are both there. Only when the games turn deadly do they catch a glimpse of the sadness and loss within each of them, that enables them to at least begin to connect with the truth, using whatever damaged shreds of humanity they still have left.
Julian Clary said:
“In 2010 Stephen Clark took me out to lunch in Camden and told me he’d like to write a play for me. How lovely, how flattering, how unusual! Over the following few years I got the occasional email from Stephen saying ‘I haven’t forgotten the play!’ but I decided he’d probably thought better of it. We were both busy with life, work and in Stephen’s case, some serious health issues. Then, one day in 2013, it arrived. A funny, dark, beautiful play…Le Grand Mort will take me so far out of my comfort zone I may never return.”
Director Christopher Renshaw said:
“Through our many collaborations, Stephen Clark and I became very close friends. Someone with whom I shared absolute trust, not only in our work but in our lives. A brave, honest, brilliantly funny man, who faced the many health challenges of his life without a single complaint. An inspiration. It is so very sad for me that Stephen will not not be here for the first production of Le Grand Mort, but I know he will be watching from somewhere, sipping a glass of good red wine, absorbing and encouraging every moment of rehearsal, as he always did.”
More casting to be announced
Creative Team:
Director – Christopher Renshaw
Production Designer – Justin Nardella
Lighting Designer – Jamie Platt
Producer & Casting Director – Danielle Tarento
JULIAN CLARY
Julian Clary is a comedian, entertainer and author, who has toured across the world with his one-man shows. He became a household name in the late 1980s, and remains one of the country’s most popular entertainers. Julian has appeared on numerous popular TV shows including Sticky Moments, Terry and Julian, Strictly Come Dancing, QI, Have I Got News For You and Celebrity Big Brother, which he won in 2012. He also hosted his own natural history series, Nature Nuts, for ITV and paid tribute to the life and works of his idol Noël Coward for Sky Arts’ Passions series. Julian has starred in West End productions of Taboo, Olivier Award-winning Cabaret and Cinderella at the London Palladium, which broke box office records. In 2016, he extended his critically acclaimed UK tour, The Joy of Mincing, and this year published the third instalment of his hugely successful children’s book series, The Bolds.
