David Suchet has been taking this retrospective show around the country for one-night visits ahead of a short London residency at the Harold Pinter for three weeks from 4th January 2022. It is a delightfully simple idea, a combination of a gentle chat about his career with his long-time friend journalist Geoffery Wansell combined with an extraordinarily insightful Master class on delivering Shakespeare words as he meant them to be said and how he created the character of Hercule Poirot. However, as he cheerfully and gratefully acknowledges it is his fame in the long-running TV film series about Agatha Christie’s Belgium detective that attracts his audience rather than his thirteen-year stint at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Although I am sure largely scripted the chat between Wansell and Suchet which takes up most of the first half is charmingly delivered, showing their friendship but allowing Suchet to tell his stories like a practiced professional! We hear about his school days, his time with the National Youth Theatre and at LAMDA and those first performances on stage. They all too briefly discuss his family background and his Grandmother who performed the sand dance on the Empire Music Hall circuit. It would have been good to hear a little more or seen more photos of his early days.
