Author Elizabeth Charlesworth
Published 28/09/2023
A note from our Artistic Director, Matthew Warchus
I was a very wet-behind-the-ears 29 year old when I walked into the huge rehearsal room at the National Theatre to direct Volpone with Michael Gambon and Simon Russel Beale in the lead rôles. It turned out to be one of the most joyful experiences of my life. Michael was not only the great iconic barnstormer I’d seen on TV in Dennis Potter‘s mind-blowing The Singing Detective or giving a performance for the ages as Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge, he was also one of the funniest and most mischievous people you could ever hope to meet and I spent a large proportion of our rehearsal time hooting with laughter.
As an actor, he was an unfathomable mixture of titanic strength and tender delicacy. He said he always wanted to be a ballet dancer, but I’ve no idea how accurate that was because alongside the extrovert clown he was also a wonderfully extravagant liar and an intensely private person. His inspired maxim when doing interviews was ‘Remember you have no obligation to tell them the truth!’.
We went on to work together two more times, firstly with Eileen Atkins on The Unexpected Man (again I had to pinch myself every day) and then with Lee Evans on Endgame (another one of my all-time favourite experiences) and I grew as a director each time I worked with him. Selfishly, I would’ve loved to have had more opportunities for that.
He will be hugely missed.
Image: Michael Gambon as Hamm in ENDGAME by Samuel Beckett directed by Matthew Warchus at the Albery Theatre, London WC2 in 2004