Writer: Mark Burgess
Director: Selina Cadell
Zeb Soanes does an astonishingly accurate impression of Jedi Knight of the Realm Sir Alec Guinness, despite looking not at all like him. The dry, precise, patrician tones of the great actor are recreated astonishingly well; the arch namedropping and mildly risqué stream of anecdotes is recognisable by anyone who ever saw the man on a chat show. He is a gossip, and he is slightly naughty. He has an endless stream of stories. He offers a lot of suggestions on the Proper Way to Act, which is essentially to do nothing, but to do it with conviction.
Mark Burgess has assembled a script full of classic Alec Guinness material, much of it from the three Guinness autobiographies, and given it to Zeb Soanes to work his own brand of magic with. It’s not a complicated or particularly profound idea, but it pays considerable theatrical dividends.
For two hours, Zeb Soanes holds his audience in raptures with simple, beautifully rendered storytelling. Selina Cadell gives it pace and visual interest, with a witty and intriguing set of props. Soanes is energetic and dynamic, but never fidgety. His donning of dressing gowns and hats makes for visual variety and is, at the same time, appropriate. But all of that is secondary to the storytelling.
Soane’s Sir Alec has an autobiography in three parts. He never knew who his father was, and his attempts to find out, and his mother’s refusal to tell him, are, in this telling, the central tragedy of his life, and the reason for his animosity towards his mother. The second tranche of experience concerns his becoming an actor immediately before the outbreak of World War II, learning from the theatrical knights who came before him – Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, and especially John Gielgud. His burgeoning reputation is derailed by a period as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve commanding landing craft, before he can resume acting when he’s been demobbed, and command attention in Ealing comedies and in the films of director David Lean. Then his life changes when George Lucas casts him as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first Star Wars movie, and he becomes instantly recognisable and extremely rich.
It’s an interesting life story, especially for an audience that thinks of him as something other than Obi-Wan. There is an understated undercurrent of gay sex that might come as a surprise to some, but it is an overwhelmingly affectionate portrayal of a great actor, tautly written and exuberantly performed.
Runs until 2 May 2026
