Remembering Jeffrey Bernard

10 April 2012

It came up at Jeff's funeral. Peter O'Toole said, "Let's do it again." You know how long these things take, and we've been messing about ever since trying to get the whole act together with the original West End cast, and directed by Ned Sherrin.

Originally, I just wanted to write something about Soho, then I fixed on Jeff who was Mr Soho at that time. I was at the opera, thinking of some kind of form for this thing, when I remembered about a guy who used to be casting director for Granada who fell asleep in Jerry's club in the lavatory one night, woke up and found himself locked in this darkened club.

He rang Jerry and said, "Let me out, Let me out." Jerry said, "Don't touch anything, I'll be round in half an hour." I thought that would be the perfect premise. Jeff sitting there locked in the pub just reminiscing about life in general.

Jeff loved the play, although I think he only saw it twice, but he used to go and bask in the bar and receive his fans. And vodkas.

He could be very charming and very irascible. It depended largely on the quantity of vodka. He was a rude bugger, of course. You know the phrase "he doesn't suffer fools gladly"? - Jeff didn't suffer anyone gladly.

Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell is my favourite piece of work, because it is a wonderful vehicle for Peter O'Toole.

In rehearsals he's already noted that it has a new patina on it. There is a darkening at the edges. It was originally a requiem for old Soho, but it's now become a requiem for Jeff too. Some of the lines are melancholy and poignant, remembering all these people are gone. I realised right away it was going to be a cult play. But after ten years there must be a lot of people who haven't seen it.

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