The show charts Hawtrey's life from a leading light in British theatre, through the high points of his career in silent films and working with Will Hay. Of course the Carry Ons are a mainstay of the play and from the reviews I have read, Rees will bring to life some of Hawtrey's legendary spats with fellow actor Kenneth Williams.
The show is being taken to the Edinburgh Fringe by the Torch Theatre Company who have released the following information on the show:
The show is being taken to the Edinburgh Fringe by the Torch Theatre Company who have released the following information on the show:
Charles
Hawtrey was one of the leading lights of the Carry
On Film
franchise and Oh
Hello! is
a one man show about Hawtrey’s life both on and off screen. Bubbly,
energetic and extremely funny, Hawtrey was one of the best known
comedy actors of the 40s, 50s and 60s but as his career waned, so his
behaviour became more drunken, promiscuous and eccentric, losing him
many friends.
In Oh
Hello!, Pembrokeshire
performer Jamie Rees (who is also The Torch Theatre’s Marketing
Manager) plays the little man of the Carry
Ons,
regaling stories of 50 years in the film industry working with the
likes of Alfred Hitchcock and starring in films including The
Ghost of St Michael’s, Passport to Pimlico and
many, many Carry
On films.
Hawtrey made over 100 film and TV performances in his career, a great
many more than most of his Carry
On film
colleagues. This was a fact of which he obsessed and his status in
the Carry
Onfilms
was a huge concern for him, which led him to eventually fall out with
the Carry
On producers
and anyone associated with the franchise. But while his spats with
Kenneth Williams are well known, his true nemesis in life was that of
the bottle. Jamie comments:
“Hawtrey
was a gay alcoholic through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. I cannot imagine
how difficult it must have been for him. Homosexuality was actually
against the law for much of his life so it must have been horribly
difficult. There’s no doubting he could be a horrible man,
especially when he was drunk, but when he was sober and on the top of
his game he was funny, intelligent and a very good actor with an
infectious personality. Oh
Hello! is
a classic roller-coaster story and one, I hope, that Edinburgh
audiences will be able to identify with and enjoy.”
it certainly sounds like a show worth seeing! If anyone is lucky enough to get tickets and see the show this August, please do let me know!
You can visit the Torch Theatre website here and you can follow Jamie on Twitter @JamRees
Oh Hello! is on at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh from 7-31 August.
Oh Hello! is on at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh from 7-31 August.
You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also Facebook
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