For those of us who lived through the era of Larry Grayson, What a Gay Day, at the Bridge House Theatre, Penge, is a joyous walk down memory lane.
Adamson delivers Grayson's fascinating story with sensitivity and humour
Tim Connery’s chronological script, charmingly delivered by Luke Adamson, takes us through Grayson’s life from cradle to grave. interspersed with imaginary performances in some of the many venues where he starred; from humble working men’s clubs with audiences of local miners to the splendours of the London Palladium in front of royalty.
Grayson’s shows were littered with references to people he knew from growing up in Nuneaton. His mother was unmarried, making him a bastard child at a time when that was a disgrace. She entrusted him to the care of Alice and Jim Hammonds, though she remained on the scene and Larry knew her as Aunt Alice, not to be confused with Slack Alice, based on a lady who sold inferior quality coal of the sort her name suggests.
Adamson sympathetically reveals Grayson’s devotion to his family and the tragedies of his early years, as the deaths of those close to him mount up, including the tragic loss of Tom Proctor, his best friend from school days and the man with whom he would probably have spent his life, but he was killed at the Battle of Monte Cassino aged just 21. He lived on in Grayson’s most famous character Everard Farquharson, in company with Apricot Lil, who worked in the local jam factory, Sterilised Stan the milkman and the postman Pop-it-In Pete.
Adamson makes no attempt at impersonation but uses the manner of Grayson’s delivery to put us in his presence, assisted by the characteristic pale suit, the contrapposto stance, worthy of Michael Angelo's David, with the left leg angled, while leaning on his ever-present bentwood chair, uttering “Look at the muck on ‘ere” and “Shut that door” along with the title of this show and innuendos he spouted in seeming innocence only to be shocked at his audience's interpretation.
There is also an insight into the history of the gay movement that celebrated the de-criminalisation of homosexual acts, Grayson’s rejection by the BBC and his rise to fame as the host of The Generation Game and his condemnation at the hands of the Gay Libertaion Front.
It’s all there and under Alex Donald’s precise direction Adamson delivers Grayson's fascinating story with sensitivity and humour, though Grayson, looking down from above, might simply praise him with, “Seems like a nice boy”.
