Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell 

Worcester Evening News

Ask any journalist worth his or her salt where the best stories come from and they'll invariably reply "the pub". In writer Jeffrey Bernard's case he takes this to the extreme and practically never leaves a watering hole - unless it's to go on to the next one of course!

This play by Keith Waterhouse has featured a host of acclaimed actors in its various runs, with Peter O'Toole as perhaps the most memorable. Bernard's life is chaotic in so much as he loses vast chunks of it through inebriation. He also loses quite a few wives - all of whom use the parting shot "You make me sick!" Entirely understandable when you're given a chance to observe him.

The Nonentities' Colin Young played Jeffrey and turned in a fine performance of a shambling drunk, prone to flashes of brilliance. Often actors pretending to be drunk go completely over the top to the point where they're just ridiculous. Young had no such problems. He was so convincing that I honestly felt if I'd been close up to him I'd have smelled the tell tale breath of an alcoholic. A stale mixture of the night before, the morning after's hair of the dog and the result of an endless stream of cigarettes. A spectacular feat when I learnt during the interval that Young isn't even a smoker!

But I wouldn't want to detract from the fine support he received from the rest of the cast. Even now, writing this review, I'm stifling a chuckle when remembering the cat betting scene. Priceless!

Tina Faulkner

Birmingham Evening Mail

This is Keith Waterhouse's affectionate look at a journalist who viewed life through a drink induced haze. Jeffrey Bernard may not necessarily have been as likeable as he portrays him. That is an academic possibility - but what matters here is the rich vein of humour that is to be mined.

Colin Young comes to the task superbly. He portrays a wry, amusing man to whom sobriety was a stranger, but for whom the world was apparently never seen through the bottom of a glass darkly. In Mr Young's hands, an extraordinary portrait is bathed in believability. It even gives him the chance to perform a trick involving a biscuit tin lid, a matchbox sleeve, a pint of water, a shoe and an egg. On the first night he handled it as he handled the rest of his responsibilities - with aplomb.

John Slim

Downing my eighth vodka in the Rose Theatre bar before Monday night's performance, I pondered with some scorn the ridiculous cliché that all journalists are heavy drinking slobs. But on a more serious note I was thoroughly impressed with the evening's entertainment that followed - despite the damage done to the image of my noble profession by the larger-than-life legend that is Jeffrey Bernard.

Our dishevelled hero - four times married, alcoholic gambler and (most weeks, unless he is "unwell" as the title suggests) Spectator columnist - emerges from the lavatories at the Coach and Horses, where he had fallen asleep when time was called, to find himself locked in for the night. He proceeds to entertain himself by polishing off a bottle of vodka - and entertaining the audience with a series of rambling anecdotes about his colourful life, aided by a host of guest appearances by characters from his past.

Colin Young in the title role cuts a charismatic figure - no easy feat when you are portraying a character previously brought to life by the likes of Peter O'Toole, Tom Conti, James Bolam, and Dennis Waterman. And the intimate setting of The Rose studio makes the audience feel part of his saloon bar world, making this Keith Waterhouse play all the more memorable.

AMD