With a twinkle in his eye and a hesitant desire to amuse or reassure, Miles Jupp conjures up the well-loved memory of David Tomlinson, the quintessentially English gentleman actor at the Oxford Playhouse this week. The Life I Lead is a triumph of a new, intelligent and extremely witty play by James Kettle, revealing Tomlinson’s own private life 'so at variance with the blitheness of his on-screen persona.'
Kettle is both a narrative and entertainment comedy writer, and a long-time collaborator with Jupp, as lead writer of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and Tom Wrigglesworth’s Hang Ups to name but two. His script is filled with surprises, sharp comedy and moments of extraordinary sadness and pain.
David Tomlinson built a career playing a certain type of Englishman - stiff, formal and a bit of a silly ass. He is best remembered as Mr Banks in the Disney film Mary Poppins and indeed he made a career in over 50 films playing genial upper-class twits and 'professional idiots'. But this play demonstrates how Tomlinson’s real life was just as fascinating as any of the parts he played. Jupp said: 'I was attracted to this first because of the character of Tomlinson himself - a man whose acting performances seemed effortless but concealed a great skill beneath the surface and not a little magic.'
Having been repeatedly told that he looks like David Tomlinson, Miles Jupp (Rev, The Thick Of It, The News Quiz) finds himself playing the mildly aristocratic character actor. Lee Newby has designed a set in the likeness of Magritte, complete with blue cloudy skies, an umbrella and bowler hats in every corner. The door centre-stage is the outline of Tomlinson’s figure. The moment Jupp walks through it to greet the audience, he brings Tomlinson to life with a story rich in complex contradictions. Under Didi Hopkins' and Selina Cadell’s combined direction, this one-man play is filled with tales of fathers, sons, wives (several wives!) and the larger-than-life Walt Disney.
'My life certainly seems improbable to me,' Tomlinson declares when introducing the many characters who make up his life. Clarence Samuel Tomlinson (known as CST), David’s complicated father is a man whose anguished mission in life was the search for the perfect slice of beef. Harry Gunnell (pronounced 'Goonell') is Tomlinson’s fictitious American agent from
For two hours, Miles Jupp becomes David Tomlinson and reveals the inspiration for Mr Banks. 'I am a satisfied chap. Why look at it any other way?' From start to finish, this play is a truly enchanting conversation with the man who made so many of us smile. I left sharing Mr Banks' 'surge of deep satisfaction' as the play closes with Jupp/Tomlinson singing the titular song 'Life I Lead' from Mary Poppins, a rendition that brought a tear to many an eye in the audience.