Sir Alec Guinness was, for half of the 20th Century, one of the greatest British stage and film actors and will be remembered somewhat to his frustration for his performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first Star Wars film in 1977 for which he was paid $150,000 and 2.25% of the film’s gross profit (reportedly his share was nearly $100m!).Yet his catalogue of work and the people who he worked with almost define that era in stage and cinema. It is a remarkable legacy.
Two Halves of Guinness is a straightforward recounting of his life (almost as an acted-out version of his Wikipedia page!) but for those who remember his work it is a sheer delight to be reminded of the characters he created and for those too young a timely reminded of someone who shaped British Culture post the Second World War. Zeb Soanes , perhaps best known for reading the Shipping forecast in Radio 4 and hosting a Classic FM show. But he gives a spell binding performance in this one-man show recreating the voices of the famous actors beautifully capturing the phrasing and intonation of their delivery. It is a tour de force performance that is a joy to behold.
Born on 2nd April 1914 to Agnes Cuffe, his mother never told him his father’s name, but he was christened Alec Guinness de Cuffe leading to a lifetime of speculation as to whether he was conceived during Cowes’s week on the Isle of Wight by one of the wealthy Guinness family. His humble beginnings was helped by Andrew Geddes funding him to a boarding school education and then securing a scholarship to the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art. By 1936 he was playing Osric in Sir John Gielgud’s (10 years older than Alec) production of Hamlet. Indeed, the quote from Hamlet Act 2 scene 2, “and all for nothing” becomes a theme of the show, a comment on the emotion an actor is required to show in his performance, his own sense of frustration of no knowing his father and a withering humble put down of his performances as requiring him to do “nothing at all”.
His fame took off through his association with two wonderful post war phenomena in which he starred and played amazing characters. He made several hugely successful Ealing Comedies, Kind hearts and Coronets (1949) in which he played all eight murder victims, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The man in the white suit (1951) and my favourite, The Ladykillers (1955). Whilst David Lean cast him in Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948) as Fagin, the Bridge of the River Kwai(1957) as Colonel Nicholson, Faisel in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Yevgraf in Doctor Zhicago (1965) and Godbole in Passenger to India (1984). Soanes brings all these characters to life wonderfully as well as the famous actors and creatives of the time including John Gielgud , Laurence Olivier, Noel Coward, Omar Shariff, Peter O’Toole, David Lean, and George Lucas with delightful insights into the film making process and relationships. He ends with another of Guinness’s classic creations George Smiley in Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), one of his rare TV performances.
While Guinness earned Academy and BAFTA awards and a knighthood, the play suggests that he would have wanted to be remembers as an Actor knight rather than a Jedi Knight. This lovely play written by Mark Burgess and directed by Selina Cadell captures the spirit of the man , is a fitting tribute and will hopefully introduce him to a young audience who will be tempted to go and watch his great legacy of work that earned him the recognition as one of the most noted actors of the 20th century. We have no doubt it will have a longer tour in 2027 and return to the West End too.
Nick Wayne
Four stars.