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Theatre
13 September 2009 Reviewed by Rachel Andrews
Playing Burton
By Mark Jenkins
National tour, until October 8
Rating: ****
Twenty-five years after his death, Richard Burton remains an iconic Hollywood figure. He is renowned for his performances in films such as 1984 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?, for his legendary and turbulent relationship with Elizabeth Taylor, his hard drinking and his premature demise at the age of 58.
Burton’s biography - that of a working-class Welshman, the 12th of 13 children who became Hollywood royalty - lends itself instinctively to the stage. Mark Jenkins’ script seeks to depict the man behind the mystique.
Burton’s Welsh roots defined him, as did his childhood, when his mother died and his father was largely absent.
He was spoilt by his sisters but it was likely his gritty social environment - he started to smoke aged eight, drink regularly at 12 and left school aged 16 - which informed his independent, competitive and reckless nature.
These traits would spur him to become, at one point, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and, effectively, to drink himself into an early grave.
Under Guy Masterson’s elegant direction of this one hander, Josh Richards as Burton captures the peaks, troughs and complexities of a man who, as he says himself on stage, spent most of his life looking for home.
Richards is also a Welshman and his accent, which is straight and clear with just a hint of a lilt, is so note-perfect it is almost as if Burton himself is speaking from the stage. Aside from the accent, Richards, who drinks and chain-smokes throughout the 80-minute performance, fluently finds his way into Burton’s shoes. At times he roars bombastically, at others he slumps defeated into his chair, recalling what was lost, or what could have been.
Burton’s intelligence and love of language are also remembered here: the character on stage is not just a boozing boyo, but someone who could quote at will from Shakespeare. All of this serves as a reminder that there was, of course, much more to this persona than the tabloid version might have us believe, and that actors with Burton’s charisma rarely come along. When they do, however, their mammoth personalities deserve to be remembered.
Playing Burton continues to An Tain, Dundalk (October 2); Draý'ocht, Blanchard s t own (Oct 3) ; Cappoquin Community Hall, Co Waterford (Oct 4); Watergate, Kilkenny (Oct 6) and Tech Amergin Waterville, Co Kerry (Oct 8)
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