WEBLINKS
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 |  | One Helluva Life reviewed by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WM producer Kaylois Henry.
The big problem with watching a one-man show is, well, simple - there's only one person in it!
You have to hope the subject is colourful enough, script deft enough and the actor good enough to hold your attention without fidgeting.
Thank goodness for Tom Conti and John Barrymore.
One Helluva Life is the story of John Barrymore, part of America's premiere acting dynasty (he is, incidentally, great-grand father of Drew Barrymore).
 My troubles came not from chasing women, but from catching them!
 | Μύ | Tom Conti
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Back in the 1920s, Barrymore was the equivalent of Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney rolled into one.
He was hailed as an actor of tremendous power and versatility - having made the successful transition from stage to screen and back to stage again to perform Shakespeare.
| Μύ |  | One Helluva Life is playing at The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry until 25 January
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He was also a hard drinking, hard living man, who's exploits fed the tabloids both sides of the Atlantic. And because of it he squandered his talent.
This play takes place as Barrymore tries his last comeback,playing Shakespeare's Richard III in a dingy theatre somewhere in New York.
Tom Conti captures Barrymore to great effect. He plays the drunken Barrymore adeptly, straddling line between pathos and pantomime with great confidence.
Conti's portrayal doesn't go overboard. You never feel sorry for Barrymore, despite seeing what it is that he has lost because of the drink.
In Conti's hands, Barrymore is a loveable rogue, with wonderfully witty one-liners showing us just what a charmer he must have been. One of my favourites "For 20 years, Cathy (his second wife) and I were ecstatically happy together. Then we met." Full credit to the playwright, William Luce.
Conti's deftly shifts between the comedy and the pain in Barrymore's life on stage, without it being jarring or mawkish.
The show is strong enough to maintain your attention, which makes me wonder why the play was divided as it was.
| Μύ |  | The fountain outside The Belgrade
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The first half was an hour long while the second was only 20 minutes. The play would have been better served having no interval and just a full 80 minute run.
The show isn't strictly one-man. There is an unseen second man, Frank, Barrymore's prompter, played off stage by Rupert Farley. He is like the long suffering voice of Barrymore's fan decline.
Oh, and just a word about the accents: There is nothing more irritating to listen to as an American than a BAD American accent, or one the shifts from a New Yorker from the Bronx to one from Long Island (trust me they ARE different).
Conti and Farley both have their's perfect, particularly Conti, who had to capture that peculiar diction prevalent among American actors during the 20s of a sort of enunciated, patrician voice.
One Helluva Life is a fun look at the life of a once great man of the stage. Even if you know nothing of John Barrymore, you can't help but like him by the end of it.
One Helluva Life is on at The Belgrade until 25 January.
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