An Evening with Sir Derek Jacobi – Review – City Varieties, Leeds
By Roger Crow, May 2025
“Was there a point when Hollywood came calling, and if so, did you turn down some big roles?” I ask one of the greatest thesps of the past 60-odd years.
“Er, no,” says Derek Jacobi, remarkably. He goes on to explain in detail how he didn’t have the looks or whatever quality for those star roles, though at one point, trivia fans, he’d co-starred in Dead Again, a fabulous 1991 movie which knocked Terminator 2 off the top of the US charts.
Derek’s working involvement with Kenneth Branagh, director and star of Dead Again, leads to assorted anecdotes, such as the time Ken asked Jacobi to direct him in Hamlet. He obliged, but realised he preferred to act.
It takes the inaugural half of the show to get to this point, which is not to say the first 50 per cent isn’t interesting. It’s fascinating as Derek recalls his heartbreaking time as a young evacuee; he was denied a chance to go on a school trip because he wasn’t local. A good job his mother went down to the school and gave that teacher an earful, and by the time he got home, there was a big party for him. Then there’s the moment he reaches a landmark birthday and there’s a red car with a silver key waiting for him. He’s baffled how his parents could afford it, until they tell him they’ve been saving for said car since the day he was born.
Jacobi claims luck played a major part in his career, and that’s obviously true for every successful thespian. But luck only gets you so far, and his ability on stage and screen are far more than happy accidents, but skill honed over decades.
His recollections about being championed by Laurence Olivier, and being friends with Ian McKellen from an early age are touching, as is his childhood when illness left him bed-bound for a year.
image: Roger Crow
“Extraordinary career”
Richard Clifford, the MC of the evening, was keen to keep his other half on track, almost at the expense of those natural recollections. It reminded me of Judi Dench’s evening at the Grand Opera House York last year, when Gyles Brandreth was in danger of spending more time talking than the star of the show. But it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Derek needs the odd reminder, understandably, but can quite happily talk for hours about an extraordinary career, whether it’s playing Hamlet multiple times on stage, or answering my question at length about the fact Tinseltown somehow didn’t snap him up for a string of blockbusters. But his love of the stage shines through, and is an inspiration for any aspiring actor seeking guidance.
It’s fascinating hearing his memories of making Branagh’s late-eighties movie version of Henry V, filming by day and on stage by night. There’s a great anecdote about turning 25 on stage and Shirley Bassey herself wishing him happy birthday in song.
There are memories of working on Frasier (for which he won an Emmy), and more recent offerings like the sublime Last Tango in Halifax, which he compared with a nice warm scented bath. There’s a brief clip and memory of making sublime sitcom Vicious, with old mate Ian McKellen, and so many other showbiz nuggets, including his turns in the Gladiator movies.
And naturally there are recollections about being cast in I, Claudius, the TV drama which perhaps changed his life.
At 86, Derek Jacobi is an inspiration for everyone. A terrific actor, obviously, but he’s so much more. When he reads the ‘All the World’s a Stage’ speech from As You Like It, his voice ranges from the enticing to the commanding with extraordinary skill, it’s a sight and sound to behold.
I’m glad I managed to thank him for a lifetime of amazing performances before that Hollywood question. Tinseltown should have snapped him up for countless blockbusters, but their loss was definitely the stage and TV’s gain. What a career. What an extraordinary gentle man. And what a Knight to remember.
Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
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