Great Britons of Stage and Screen by Cooper Barbara Roisman;Osborne Robert;Brownlow Kevin;

Author:Cooper, Barbara Roisman;Osborne, Robert;Brownlow, Kevin; [Cooper, Barbara Roisman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Sir Derek Jacobi, CBE

It ain’t what you say; it’s the way wot you say it.

Sir Derek Jacobi has just completed a Sunday matinee performance as Malvolio in the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Aldwych Theatre. Because there is no evening performance on Sunday (in fact, unlike many Broadway shows, which have Sunday performances, occasional Sunday matinees are new to the West End after decades of darkness), the theatre staff is eager to lock up, so the interview, scheduled for the cluttered green room, is moved to the restaurant across the alley from the theatre.

Blinking into the darkness of the busy bar area, the gray-bearded and mustachioed actor appears much taller on stage than he actually is. His gray beard is neatly trimmed, and his silvered hair is in what might be called a crew cut. At age seventy-three, his skin is surprisingly wrinkle-free—and pink. He wedges himself into a seat behind a corner table. No one takes notice of the soft-spoken actor as the waiter takes his order for a glass of chardonnay.

Considering that Sir Derek, just a half hour before, had taken a company curtain call for the eighth performance of the week that, as the saying goes, brought down the house, he is full of energy and enthusiasm and eager to talk about his craft, and his blue eyes sparkle each time the word theatre is mentioned.

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