Keith Allen was cast in his latest show by Lady Antonia Fraser. He explains this odd circumstance when we meet during a break in rehearsals for Pinter’s The Homecoming.
‘I was asked if I wanted to do The Caretaker at the Theatre Royal Bath. And I said, “Yeah, I’d love to.” Then I had a conversation with Antonia Fraser who told me the script was licensed to someone else. She said, “Why not do The Homecoming instead – with you as Max?” And I said, “Yes.”’
Max is the thuggish head of an emotionally damaged Cockney family with criminal connections. His wife has died and he lives with his sons in a household that simmers with pent-up aggression. The plot is a quest to replace the dead mother with a powerful female figure.
‘It was always a dream of mine to play Max,’ says Allen. ‘A lot of actors want to play King Lear but I don’t think I’m up that ladder. Max has always been in my sights.’
The haphazard route that led him to the role is typical of his career. He doesn’t plan ahead and he’s unsure what he’ll be doing in a year’s time.
‘I have no idea. And I have to say I don’t mind. I’m coming down the hill now [he’s 68], so I don’t have those kinds of ambitions. I’m very happy where I am.’
Most biographies state that Allen made his stage debut in 1979 when he performed at the newly opened Comedy Store in Leicester Square. In fact he appeared earlier than that in Max Bygraves’s variety show, Singalongamax, as part of the chorus line. But he wasn’t supposed to be on stage. And he was stark naked.
‘I was squatting in Eaton Square at the time and it was very convenient for the Victoria Palace where I worked as a stage electrician.
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