Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Ian McKellen, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Watson, Sarah Lancashire, Edward Fox, Vanessa Kirby, Tom Brooke, Matthew Cottle, Ian Conningham, Helen Bradbury, Isabelle Estelle Corbusier, John Ashton, Annalisa Rossi.
The Fool and his King are soon parted and the Fool will always regret being so in thrall of a man who despises him. The fine robes of stately oratory soon shed, the Fool sees his master as nothing but rags and as man whose life is but a mask.
The life of the dresser is one of the thankless tasks in theatre, without whom the play would just become a procession of whimsy and yet rarely does any recognition come the way of those who are effectively, especially in the older and pre-war celebratory status of the touring theatrical companies, servants to the more established actors. It is a world that few see, the illusion from the stage that is presented to paying public, even further removed, more distant that the grease paint allows and yet the thanks in public are scant, even if they overflow in the quiet domain of the dressing room.
The Dresser has a large and looming presence in terms of stature, to try and even match Tom Finney’s and the great Tom Courtney’s flourished performance in the 1983 film would take fortitude and more attention to detail than might be considered healthy. However, by casting Ian McKellen as Norman and Anthony Hopkins as Sir, this trip into the psychological dependency between two men is given a fresh appeal and with Emily Watson proving yet again her supreme versatile nature as Her Ladyship, the impressive Sarah Lancashire as the Company’s Stage Manager and Vanessa Kirby giving an excellent performance as the eager and delicately star struck Irene, the cast of the 2015 remake make this version of The Dresser a delight to watch.
The scenes between both Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins were full of pathos and want, the reliance on each other to get the job touching and yet at the same time verging on habit, the allusion to the Fool and the King’s craving not lost upon the viewer. In Ian McKellen the part was on par with the great Tom Courtney, the nuances delving into the slightly overt effeminate nature, the meanness of his resolve to Irene, all catching the eye with profound quality.
It seems odd to have had such a marvellous adaptation thrust into the television mix at the start of November and without much song and dance surrounding it but The Dresser is certainly a captivating pleasure to behold.
Ian D. Hall