I’d already been tangentially involved in a production of this play, in Lancaster in 1975, by setting to a song lyric which turns up in the text. At the Bristol Old Vic, as well as having another go at that, I had two nice little parts: Cicero city boss Dullfeet, and Young Dogsborough, who echoes everything said by his father, the Chicago city boss. My dad was played by Peter Copley, who, before the lights went up on his first scene on the first night, had a monumental dry. As the scene change music was playing, he turned to me before the lights went up on the set and said “What’s my first line?” I didn’t have a clue. All I ever did as his son was to repeat what he said! Somehow he found his way back to the text during the course of the scene. Four years later, the same thing happened to me, of which more anon.
In addition to Coppers, as he was affectionately known, the cast of this production boasted other classy actors, including Ian Hogg, Nicholas Woodeson, Tom Georgeson, June Barrie, James Cairncross and, excellent in the title role, Bill Wallis.
Peter Copley as Old Dogsborough
directed by John David at the Bristol Old Vic
