TV star in Chch for golf, concert, and stage play

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 3

TV star in Chch for golf, concert, and stage play

A round on the golf course and attending the Cliff Richard concert in the Town Hall this evening are high on Richard O'Sullivan’s list of priorities while he is in Christchurch to star in the stage play “Darling, Mr London.” Mr O’Sullivan, who is best known in New Zealand for

his television roles ,in “Man About the House,” “Robin’s Nest,” and “Dick Turpin,” is a keen golfer and hopes to be able to accept some of the many offers of a round of golf once the play has opened on Thursday night. Asked about his handicap, he said, “I am a bit of a bandit off 18.”

The British actor is both a friend and a fan of Cliff Richard. “We have worked in two films together, “The Young Ones” and “It’s a Wonderful Day,” in the 19605, and I am looking forward to the concert,” he said. “Cliff just keeps getting better and better.” “It is a bit tough, though, to have to come right round the world to meet a mate.” “Darling, Mr London,” which opens at the Theatre Royal on Thursday evening, is a present-day farce. Mr O’Sullivan plays Edward Hawkins, an international telephone operator who is in the habit of “chatting up” overseas woman operators. Four of the women arrive in London for a “Miss, Europhone” competition, and he has to prevent them meeting his wife. “It is a good family show: there’s nothing in it to upset .anybody,” he said. The play has had two summer seasons in England, running for 17 weeks in Jersey and Bournemouth, and a provincial tour. The comedy was wellreceived in England and Mr O’Sullivan hopes that the New Zealand audiences will enjoy it. “If they don’t find it funny then that is my fault, not theirs,” he said. The cast of nine includes another English actor, Doug Fisher, who took the part of Larry the lodger in “Man About the House.” He will direct the play for its New Zealand tour, as well as playing the superior brother-in-law. Seven New Zealand actors and actresses make up the rest of the cast of the sixcity tour. The play, which will go to Wellington, Palmerston North, Napier, Auckland, and Hamilton after Christchurch, has been in rehearsal in Wellington

for the last 10 days. Mr O’Sullivan left England for New .Zealand on February 22, only two days after finishing a pantomime season, in which his wife Tessa Wyatt, who played his television wife in “Robin’s Nest,” also starred.

There are no plans for another series of “Robin’s Nest. “We had done the show for four years and it was a case of stopping while we were ahead,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “It was becoming difficult for the writers to come up with new ideas and rather than see the standard of the show drop, we agreed to finish.”

A new ielevision series, set in the “charming period of the 19305,” is being written at the moment for Mr O’Sullivan. Mr O’Sullivan said that he did not specialise in the comedy roles which had made him famous. “The Dick Turpin character, for instance, was more serious,” he said. “Actually it is more difficult to make people laugh than it is to make them feel sorry for you.” Farce was one of the most technically demanding mediums,’ because timing was so important. “We have a lot of doors in the set and if someone enters or leaves a split second off, the effect is lost,” he said.

The only thing he knew about new' Zealand before he arrived two weeks ago was that “you had a pretty good rugby team and some good athletes.” Although he hopes to see something of New Zealand while he is here he will not be staying in New' Zealand after the play closes on April 22 in Hamilton. “It is Tessa’s birthday, and my son, James, will be two in May, and I want to be back for these,” he said.