Jeffrey Bernard is unwell

A one man show originally written by Keith Waterhouse in 1989. Based on the real life escapades of hard drinking Spectator journalist Jeffrey Bernard, set and staged in the saloon bar at the Coach and Horses pub on Greek st. Where he was once a regular.

The story goes that Bernard (Played by Downton Abbey star Robert Bathurst.) Has fallen asleep in the gents and re-emerges to find that last orders has long since been called! While waiting for the landlord to come to his rescue he takes a long unflinching stroll down memory lane…

As you would expect Robert Bathurst is a talented performer, what he gave us was a warm, witty monologue that was essentially a love letter to the scuzzy booze soaked Soho of the 20th century and the colourful characters that inhabited it. The trouble was that he played it as Robert Bathurst, yes he worked the room gesturing with a cigarette, swigging from a bottle and delivering well rehearsed one liners, but his performance was just too polished to be convincing as a drunken rogue. You could not possibly believe that this was a man who had spent the night passed out in a toilet cubicle, or that he had a 14 year period of his life where the details were a little hazy!

This is not to say it’s not entertaining, which it is. It’s also a bit of a snapshot into a more carefree world pre internet and pre gentrification, which has sadly now vanished and you cant help but feel that Jeffrey and his ilk would be horrified if they wandered into modern Soho – For the drink prices if nothing else!

Overall I would say ‘Jeffrey Bernard’… is a clever concept but I felt the taget audience would be those who remember Soho between the 1970s to the 90s and fancy an evening of nostalgia.

Jeffrey Bernard is unwell is on at the Coach and Horses pub, Greek st. untill the end of March https://jeffreyplay.com/