Truth about Burton
Last updated 11:37, Thursday, 12 June 2008
HIS affairs were famous across the world and he was the first victim of paparazzi photographers.
The life and times of Richard Burton have been well-documented, but next week, the Rosehill Theatre at Whitehaven promises to reveal the truth about the superstar.
Playing Burton is a one-man show starring Josh Richards and directed by the great man’s great nephew, Guy Masterson.
He grew up with Burton as an uncle, the actor was more like a brother to Guy’s mother.
As a 20-year-old in 1981, Guy drove Burton to Paris and spent a fortnight with him there, then a further two weeks at his home in Switzerland.
It was during this time that he got to know the real person behind the private jets, five star hotels and the tempestuous on-off-on-off affairs with Elizabeth Taylor.
He understood more about the man who was one of 12 brothers and sisters from a poor mining family in south Wales, who was brought up by his elder sister and who bought or helped buy homes for all the family.
He realised how much Burton missed his home and family, how awful he thought the acting world really was and why he suffered so much melancholy.
The show uses Burton’s own words as well as those of the great writers he admired.
“People just assume that he was a hellraiser and drank for the sake of drinking.
“But he craved his native Wales and family and was very homesick.
“The fact that his life was no longer his own – he could not leave the house for a cigarette or to go to the pub without being photographed.
“The paparazzi were practically invented to photograph him and Liz Taylor.
“For someone from the Valleys to lose any kind of privacy is tough, his father was an alcoholic and he had a prediliction towards heavy drinking.
“But the play is based on humour and you get to meet the young Burton, the young, awestruck actor.
“You witness him self-destruct with the drink and then pull himself back from the brink.
“It is not just about Richard Burton, but also about celebrity and how we can throw them in the bin when we are done with them.”
Welshman Josh used to share a flat with Guy during their student days and would talk into a Belisha beacon to impersonate Burton.
The two went their separate ways when Guy went to America where he worked for 10 years.
When he returned to London he noticed a tattered advert for Josh appearing in Playing Burton and called him up.
“I said I wanted to direct him in the play and add a lot of what I knew about him.
“I wanted to protect his reputation and not exploit it.”
And what about recapturing that rich booming voice?
“Oh Josh is brilliant now, and he doesn’t need the beacon any more!”
Playing Burton is on at the Rosehill Theatre, Whitehaven on June 20. Tickets cost £14; £12 concessions. For enquiries call: 01946 692422.
