Receiving another standing ovation is the goal of the oldest star of a play about the lives of three gay men when it returns to the stage in Watford next week.
Bryan Timberlake, Ian Port and Lee Keogh first appeared in Three Proud Men in February – and are set to perform it again at The Pump House Theatre as part of Watford Fringe.
“We got a standing ovation” Bryan recalled of the play’s first sell-out performance, “and I’m determined to get the same again!”.
Written by Ian and directed by twice nominated Olivier Award actor and director, Dan Clarkson, Bryan believes Three Proud Men’s appeal lies in its very honest telling of life stories by three gay men, all with strong connections to Watford.
He said: “I’m in my very early 90s so it’s a real opportunity to recall some of my experiences and compare with those told by my co-stars Ian, who’s in his late 50s, and Lee, who at 22 is nearly 70 years my junior, if only in age”.
Whilst agreeing the age differences are an obvious draw, Bryan feels the strength of the show comes from the contrasts in their individual characters and approaches to life, against a backdrop of a shared home town and sexuality.
“It’s natural, I suppose, to make assumptions about people, especially people from minorities, and assume they’re all the same,” he said. “But, if you come along to Three Proud Men you’ll find out that we’re as different from each other as chalk and cheese”.
Asked how the play came about, Bryan explained: “We’d been discussing ways to spread Proud Watford’s mission to help the town evolve as, to quote the organisation’s strapline, ‘a place without prejudice’. As a drag queen, I’ve always believed in the power of performance to break down barriers.
“To cut a long story short, Ian’s a writer who had worked alongside Harlequin Theatricals, a local production company and together we came up with a three-hander of me, Ian and Lee. And the entire experience has been wonderfully invigorating, for us in the ‘Three Proud Men’ team and judging by the feedback, the audience too!”.
Asked what he meant by ‘invigorating’, Bryan responded: “The production makes one basic point: minority people are just people, trying to live good and meaningful lives: that’s an essential human right, isn’t it?”.
“I hope that’s the message our audience will be left with after all the laughter and all the tears and everything in between”.
Three Proud Men is at the Pump House Theatre on Saturday, July 20 at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £12 for adults and £10 concessions and are available from https://www.proudwatford.com/three-proud-men
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