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Primo Time
By Antony Sher
Nick Hern Books £9.99
180 pages
Dateline: 7th March, 2005
One of the best pieces at the National Theatre last year was Primo.
This was Sir Antony Sher's one-man rendition of the great Italian author
Primo Levi's If This is a Man relating his experiences in Auschwitz.
Primo Time is a diary that takes us through the project from
genesis to original performance. Currently, it has been revived at Hampstead
Theatre and is no doubt very deservedly selling out.
Like Primo Levi but in a very different way, Sir Antony has always
been a man to bare his soul. In the first chapter alone, we hear not
only of his determination to write a piece and have it performed but
also of various personal traumas.
Primo was written at the same time as the RSC's Jacobethan plays
were transferring to London and unbeknown to audiences, the actor-playwright
was suffering from "The Fear". This was a condition that might
have resulted from his efforts to kick a cocaine habit. It sounds rather
close to schizophrenia, in that he suffered from a kind of stage fright
that involved hearing three internal voices while he was playing.
Add in his mother's descent into a different fear, Alzheimer's disease,
problems under Adrian Noble at the RSC and the knowledge that The Levi
Estate were renowned for rejecting all adaptations (and indeed initially
refused permission in this case) and one concludes that this was not
a good time in the actor's life.
But for the support of his partner, director Greg Doran, and many friends,
who knows what might have happened?
As the initial preparations began under Royal Court director Richard
Wilson, far from Victor Meldrew mode, Sir Antony may have regretted
embarking on the project. The initial process included a series of what
were known as "punishment exercises". This included being
incarcerated in the back of a lorry in midsummer and driven around the
streets of London. He soon concluded that, "This is going to have
to dig deeper than anything else I've done".
The preparatory process also included visits to Auschwitz and Turin,
the two places with which Levi is now most closely associated.
Primo Time probably better explains the rehearsal process than
any other book that the reviewer can remember. In this case, it is filled
with anguish for many reasons. But for the subject-matter of the play,
it might be fair to suggest that the poor actor goes through a kind
of torture. Indeed he requires regular therapy in order to make it to
the first night and appear on stage.
Rehearsing for a one-man show is an extraordinary experience for an
actor, as Sir Antony makes painfully clear. Sir Simon Callow, a man
who specialises in the form, sums it up when he tells him that "you
must understand that rehearsing a one-man show is much, much harder
than playing it. In performance, you finally get the other character,
someone to tell the story to, an audience." One way in which he
helped himself to come to terms with this project and his struggles
was to write letters, inevitably never sent, to Primo Levi.
As well as an insight into the life and work of a distinguished theatrical
knight, Primo Time also gives an interesting view of Richard
Wilson, the calm, precise theatre director who must claim a substantial
share in the outstanding success of the play, both artistically and
at the box offices.
The book itself, is a fantastic achievement, recording another. It
is well-written, gripping and sometimes funny, as well as absolutely
heartbreaking almost throughout. It is hard to recommend it highly enough.
Buy both this book and Primo Levi's If This is a Man and see
the show, if you can. The whole cannot fail to be a life-changing experience.
Philip Fisher
You
can buy Primo
Time Signed Edition (£6.99) and If
This Is a Man / The Truce (£5.39) from our Bookshop
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