Just as two new Carry On films are announced, 25 years after the last one was made, a play about one of the original Carry On stars, Oh Hello!, is set to tour Wales.
Charles Hawtrey was one of the leading lights of the Carry On film franchise and Oh Hello!, a one man show performed by Welsh actor Jamie Rees and written by Dave Ainsworth, was performed to sell-out crowds last year and was highly acclaimed by both audiences and critics.
Jamie Rees says: “There’s no doubting Charles Hawtrey could be an extremely difficult man, especially when he was drunk, but when he was sober and on top of his game he was funny, intelligent and a very good actor with an infectious personality.”
In Oh Hello! the little man of the Carry Ons regales stories of 50 years in the film industry working with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and starring in films including The Ghost of St Michael’s, Passport to Pimlico and many, many Carry On films.
Hawtrey made over 100 film and TV performances in his career, a great many more than most of his Carry On film colleagues. This was a fact on which he obsessed and his status in the Carry On films was a huge concern for him, which led him to eventually fall out with the Carry On producers and anyone associated with the franchise. But while his spats with Kenneth Williams are well known, his true nemesis in life was that of the bottle.
Jamie comments: “Hawtrey was a gay alcoholic through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for him. Homosexuality was actually against the law for much of his life so it must have been horribly challenging being such a colourful character. Today he would most probably have gone into rehab and come out the other side lauded for his bravery… this was not the case in his era.”
The Torch Theatre Company’s production of Oh Hello! opened at The Torch Theatre in Milford Haven 13-15 July and will make it’s final performance at Theatr Felinfach on 17 September at 7.30pm. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.theatrfelinfach.wales or contact the Box Office on 01570 470697
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