I, Jacobi

From the Sutton Guardian (Sept. 8th, 2000)

Derek Jacobi is in a state of mischievous anticipation. "I've got the scratchmarks on my door at home," he says. "Just 11 days until opening!"

Derek Jacobi - at the Richmond Theatre next month

The anticipation is for God Only Knows, the title of Hugh Whitemore's latest play, which Derek Jacobi stars in, alongside Francesca Hunt, Margot Leicester, Richard O'Callaghan and David Yelland. Set in the Blairite holiday heaven of Tuscany, the peaceful evening of four holiday makers is shattered when astranger suddenly appears who claims to possess long hidden knowledge that is both momentous and dangerous. It has something to do with an enigma involving the Vatican's Secret Archive, an Italian dealer in antiquities and a Jewish preacher. The answer to this riddle? God only knows...

This is Jacobi and Whitemore's second collaboration. The first was Breaking The Code, the story of Enigma-busting mathematician Alan Turing, which opened in London in 1986 that went on to Broadway. This time around Whitemore says he has tailored the lead role with Derek Jacobi specifically in mind.

Directed by Anthony Page, who has just finished Enigmatic Variations, starring Donald Sutherland, God Only Knows opens tonight at Malvern's Festival Theatre. then takes a brief tour which includes the Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford, from September 11th to 23rd, and the Richmond, October 23rd to 28th, before the West End.

After an absence from the theatre of four years, Sir Derek has just completed a successful stint on Broadway in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, where he was the winner of the 2000 Outer Critics Circle Award as the most outstanding actor in a play.

At 62, and in great shape, Sir Derek promised himself as a younger man that he would never get middle age spread. "And I haven't...well, just a little, but not much! "I'm very, very lucky. I used to go to the gym and all that, but I became so bored. I watch what I eat - I'm very careful about that."

His leonine features accurately mirror the dignity he exudes. Yet what one finds so disarming is his modesty, surprising in one who has notched up the acclaim and success he has.

His stage roles have included Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus Rex, Richard II and Richard III. But he is perhaps most widely - and best-- known for his performances on TV, notably as the memorable, definitive I, Claudius, and as the mystery-solving monk in Cadfael. "I Really enjoyed doing Cadfael," he says. "They were all made in Hungary, and I used to get 12 weeks in the year in Budapest, over the five years. "But now I've hung up my habits." He laughs wistfully. "Yes, my dirty habits are hanging up somewhere!"

Only major success in film eludes him, though his silver screen CV is hardly meagre. Film credits include the Frederick Forsyth thrillers The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa Files, Dead Again - alongside his protege Kenneth Branagh - Up at the Villa, The Body, and most recently Ridley Scott's Gladiator.

When asked how he feels about Hollywood, and the cinematic success of contemporaries as Patrick Stewart, Anthony Hopkins and Dame Judy Dench, he laughs and says, "My time will come! I'd love to do more! You never get rich in the theatre. The only wealthy actors I know are film actors - and I want to join them!"

But his heart, you realise, is is in theatre. He loves the interaction with the audience and misses this aspect when doing films. "Films, out of necessity, become very self congratulatory," he says.

He draws on his own experiences in the characters he portrays. "I think the observations and feelings and emotions one has in life are fed into the characters you play, the people you try to be on stage, but there has to be a cut off point. We're in rehearsal now, so obviously I take my work home, and I think about it at home. But once we're up and running, once the show is on, there has to be a cut off point. You leave the theatre - you leave that world - and you're back into your other world, which you need to do, otherwise...that way madness lies". He smiles. "If you become Hamlet 24 hours a day, you're in trouble !"

Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Derek Jacobi are the only two British actors to have been twice knighted, once by the Queen of England, and once by the Danish realm. Of his mentor Sir Laurence, Jacobi says: "He made extraordinary choices as an actor, and they were never the choices that you anticipated. There was also his discipline, and hard, hard work - these were his most admirable qualities".

When asked about his personal life philosophy, and how he has sustained such a successful career, Sir Derek says: "I've been very lucky. Basically you need the talent, you've got to have the health to be able to do it and acting is a very stressful profession, and then you've got to have the luck - to be given the opportunity to strut your stuff. I don't know in which order those three come, but you need some of each of those."