This show takes its title from a song in Mary Poppins sung by Mr Banks, played by the actor David Tomlinson, the subject of the play. A one-man biographical memoir featuring Miles Jupp, and its rather good.
Tomlinson had a very successful career playing the archetypal English gent. Though he worked on stage and TV, it was his prolific big screen career, some fifty films, for which he was best known. Walt Disney was apparently initially reluctant to cast him as Banks, but must have warmed to him as he later also cast him in Bedknobs & Broomsticks and The Love Bug, a trio of films which made him recognisable to a generation of children, and their parents & grandparents.
In addition to his film career, we learn about his difficult relationship with his domineering father, who led a double life, and the contrasting close relationship with his autistic son, one of four he had with second wife Audrey. These moving moments alternate with extremely funny ones of English eccentricity, somewhat lost in translation in Hollywood. Lee Newby’s Magrittesque pale blue set provides the perfect backdrop. Jupp plays Tomlinson engagingly, with great audience contact, warmth and charm.
It appears to be comedy writer James Kettle’s first play; an impressive achievement indeed. Perhaps Jupp is so comfortable with Kettle’s lines because he writes them for the News Quiz too. There’s a delicacy and lightness of touch about the writing, staging and performance that makes for a delightful evening, well worth a couple of hours of your time.
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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