I’ll Be Seeing You review – Simon Russell Beale’s Liberace is a life force too great to be tamed
Pitlochry Festival theatre
Martin Sherman’s meta new work sees Fra Fee’s writer struggling to turn out a play about the flamboyant pianist while despising everything the showman stands for
Simon Russell Beale makes his entrance in mid-air, appearing some way above the stage in a heavenly haze of smoke and light. He flashes a voluminous silver cape and spangly waistcoat, his eyes wide and imploring as if he cannot believe it either. It is flashy and flamboyant and it is a problem for Fra Fee.
In this headily meta new play by Martin Sherman, still provocative and unexpected at the age of 87, Fee plays a writer commissioned by Pitlochry Festival theatre to turn out a play about Liberace. The only thing is, he despises everything the American showbiz pianist stands for.
