Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines are full of praise for the London audiences who have been rushing to see them in Driving Miss Daisy.
“The attention of the London audiences is noticeable,” said playwright Alfred Uhry as the cast prepared for the show’s official press night.
Jones, who, like Redgrave and Gaines, previously appeared in the production when it was first seen on Broadway has also noticed a difference between US and UK audiences. “The London audiences,” he said in his unmistakable bass tones, “being better listeners, have caught on to some ironies that make them laugh much more than in New York.”
The cast take to the stage tonight for the official opening night of the play, which is still best known for its Oscar-winning movie version starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Its story of an elderly Jewish mother deemed unfit to drive by her son, and her relationship with the African American chauffeur he hires to help her get around, tugged at the heart strings of moviegoers and awards judges alike. It now hopes to work the same trick on London’s audiences and critics.
For Jones, it marks a swift return to the London stage, following his run in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in the winter of 2009/10. The iconic American star is particularly delighted to be performing at the Wyndham’s theatre, a venue which, he says, “so embraces [the audience] and us that we’re not having to fight to be heard. To be understood is another question, but to be heard is quite pleasant.”
While Redgrave, Jones and Gaines all have their own views on the reason for the play’s ongoing attraction, possibly the man best positioned to explain it is Uhry, who lays it simply with the fact that audiences are able to connect with three truthful characters: “Everybody has a mother. Everybody has a prejudice. Everybody needs a job and everybody feels things that they can’t say because they’re too shy. My intention at the beginning was to write about real people living real lives in difficult, interesting times.”
MA