The Larry Grayson Story
Larry Grayson, one of the country’s best-loved light entertainers, is back from The Other Side (no, not ITV) to tell the story of his extraordinary life. Larry was the camp stand-up who, with his innuendo-laden tales, told stories of friends like Everard and Slack Alice.
In this fusion of autobiographical reminiscing and stand-up written by Tim Connery, Larry reveals all. From his birth in 1923 to an unmarried mother at a time when such things brought nothing but shame, to his fostering by a hard-working miner and his family, Larry maintained an incredible drive to become a variety star at a time when variety was dying.
Drag artist, comedian, song-and-dance man, Larry did it all, but he was consigned to showbusiness oblivion by an early TV appearance. No one, least of all Larry, expected him to become a major light entertainment star later in life, with his shows watched by over 20 million people on Saturday nights in the 1970s and 1980s.
A gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, he was marginalised by his own sexuality, but was also bizarrely targeted by the Gay Liberation Front for not being what they wanted to promote. The camp comic who paved the way for so many others, he is now in danger of being forgotten. So spend an evening with Larry, his hilarious friends, his anecdotes and catchphrases, and the humour of the decades he lived though, and find out what he did in the Rolls Royce that he could not drive. Luke Adamson plays Larry Grayson in this Bridge House Theatre production.
Director Alex Donald says: ‘Larry Grayson lived a life filled with incident and character. If we put everything on stage the show would last for ever and Luke, magnificent as he is, would never forgive me. I’ll be at the bar after the show, so if you want to chat more about Larry, come over and I’ll give you something meaty.’
Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH from 26th – 30th August.
Admission: £17, £15 concessions. 80 minutes, no interval.
Booking and full details: www.brockleyjack.co.uk
