CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH


REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
Being Sellers


That's me: international movie star, world famous, at my peak. . .No visitors. Again. Bastards!. . ..You find out who your friends are! And don't talk to me about my family! Where are they when you need them? Huh! Not that I need them! —Peter Sellers in the hospital.
Being Sellers
David Boyle as Peter Sellers
As an audience, we are happiest seeing Peter Sellers wearing his masks and portraying blundering Inspector Clouseau, Chance the gardener, Dr Strangelove and the zany characters from The Goon Show. Carl Caulfield's Being Sellers part of t 59E59 Theaters' annual Brits Off-Broadway, informs us that wearing his masks was also the times when the legendary comic actor was happiest, and most comfortable, with himself.

With focused direction by Simon Green, David Boyle as Peter Sellers reveals a lifetime of behavior that was not merely unacceptable but obnoxious, mean-spirited and cruel. Before this one-man play opens, Boyle's Sellers is sleeping in his hospital bed, the main prop in a spare space with the audience on three sides. There is no raised stage, which punctuates one's feeling of visiting Sellers in his hospital room— that is, if you dared, knowing his self-centered arrogance and fiery temper. When he wears the trademark black glasses, Boyle bears a remarkable resemblance to the actor, and while that changes as he moves around the stage, Sellers' inner traits emerge just as convincingly as the fictional film personalities.

We see an anguished Sellers trying to come to terms with his antagonistic personality after having suffered yet one more heart attack. This one proves fatal and he uses characters to search for why he is here and to make amends. The problem is that the man does not admit doing anything wrong. Flipping through his life as if it were the pages of a calendar, he tells us about his show business parents, his unstable childhood, the brilliant career, the loves he abused, his numerous enemies. Everyone is warped by his sheer nastiness. Sellers constantly harkens back to his mother, Peg. As he moves toward the final destination she awaits him. However, gefore reaching that "white light" Sellers is put in a transition space — a purgatory remembered from one of his childhood schools, St. Aloysius, where he was sent because he was a difficult child. Born a Jew, though non-practicing ("I've never set foot in a synagogue all my life"), an Irish priest told him he had no soul and now Sellers fears, "Oh, my God! An eternity here with just . . . myself!" There's also a clumsy attempt to to investigate Sellers' life by Inspector Clouseau ("You were born on the road. Do you happen to know the name of this road?" ) We also hear from his psychiatrist, Dr. Fritz Fassbender ("Ve need to examine who you really are").

Sellers was happiest when he was in the military, out of his mother's grasp and where he amused himself by dressing up and impersonating officers. (quot;Nobody ever saw through it! It was a great way of drumming up a good audience!") His career success began with rapid impersonations on the British radio The Gong Show. Yet trying to please his aggressive mother always stood in the way of contentment. Even when he fell in love and married he destroyed his relationships, including that with his two children. As he explains it, "Ma. . . had to become great! That's what you wanted. Isn't it? You have to sacrifice some things for that!"

It's difficult to excuse, much less forgive, Peter Sellers. The play does offer some black humor as when he reaches into his bedside table for his pint, takes a swallow and declares "Medication! As W.C. Field said: Never drink water. Fish fuck in it!" And it's compelling to watch Boyle depicting the genius of the chameleon actor as he weighs in with John Gielgud, Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Winston Churchill, Hitler and Groucho Marx.

Being Sellers, marks the 30th anniversary of Peter Sellers' death at age 54. Neither writer or actor whitewashes the man, yet it's a glaring quick portrait with a surprising tinge of empathy.

Being Sellers by Carl Caulfield
Directed by Simon Green


Cast: David Boyle as Peter Sellers.
Assistant DIrector: Evan Pappas
Costume Design and Props: Caroline Howard
Lighting Design: Allan Ramsay
AEA Stage Manager: Jess Johnson
Running Time: 1 hour, no intermission
59 East 59th Street, between Madison and Park.
Tickets: $25. ($17.50 for 59E59 members). Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or www.59E59.org. For more information, visit www.britsoffbroadway.com.
Performances: Tues. & Wed. at 7:30 PM; Thurs. & Fri. at 8:30. Sat. at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM, Sun. at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM.
Starts 11/23/10. Opens 11/28/10. Closes 12/12/10.
Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors based on performance 11/27/10
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Being Sellers
  • I disagree with the review of Being Sellers
  • The review made me eager to see Being Sellers


Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex
For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader
Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter
Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
Slings & Arrows  cover of  new Blu-Ray cover
Slings & Arrows-the complete set

You don't have to be a Shakespeare aficionado to love all 21 episodes of this hilarious and moving Canadian TV series about a fictional Shakespeare Company

Next to Normal
Our Review of the Show

Scottsboro Boys cast album
TheScottsboro Boyse


bloody bloody Andrew Jackson
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson


In the Heights
In the Heights


broadwaynewyork.com


amazon



©Copyright 2010, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com