“Ralph just surrendered himself to the comedy,” said Kenneth Branagh, after Ralph Fiennes, an actor best known for his serious roles, hammed it up on the West End stage. The star of The English Patient was appearing as himself in the Branagh-directed The Play What I Wrote in London – and the critics loved it.
“The star of such films as Schindler’s List proved he can seriously play the clown,” wrote one reporter from the Daily Mail – after the actor had the audience, including his partner Francesca Annis, howling with laughter as he played to the crowd, giving his reputation a serious luvvie-ing up.
In an interview with the BBC, Ralph explained why he chose to appear in the play, an affectionate tribute to British comedy geniuses Morecambe & Wise. “It seemed like a fun thing to do, and the script is very funny and the guys are amazing.”
The play was seen as a triumph for Northern Irishman Branagh, who earlier this week won an Emmy for Best Actor in the film Conspiracy, with London’s theatre critics, traditionally not the easiest of people to please, calling the production “the funniest and most inventive new comedy of the year.”
Ralph is expected to play himself for a week, before another famous person turns up to do the honours. Names that have been mooted to appear are Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue, Richard E Grant, Keanu Reeves, Jude Law and even supermodel Naomi Campbell, who received good notices herself when she appeared in The Vagina Monologues in San Francisco recently.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
