Alistair McGowan following up An Audience With Jimmy Savile with new play 4000 Days

The actor will succeed Savile with new play in ‘boxing ring’-sized venue
Thought-provoking: Alistair McGowan in An Audience with Jimmy Savile
Helen Maybanks
Robert Dex @RobDexES30 October 2015

Alistair McGowan is following up his critically acclaimed role playing reviled DJ Jimmy Savile with a new play at the same venue.

The actor, best known as an impressionist and stand-up comedian, is appearing at the Park Theatre in 4000 Days, playing a gay man whose memory is wiped when he falls into a coma and wakes up not knowing who his partner is.

McGowan, whose theatrical career has seen him play to packed houses in some of the West End’s biggest venues, said the small size of the Finsbury Park theatre was one of its main attractions.

He said: “It’s wonderful having people so close to you, you can just be subtle and very real.

“Maybe it’s because of my stand-up background but I’m used to looking at the audiences faces in the front row. We did An Audience With Jimmy Savile for a week in Edinburgh in bigger venues and it was a completely different experience, whereas The Park is three rows and it’s like a boxing ring.

“The first time I went I saw a play and you really felt like a fly on the wall watching these people, which is one of the reasons Savile was such a success — the audience really did feel like they were in the same room as him, which gave me a lot of power. It was extraordinary to see people’s reaction. I didn’t know what to expect, would people spit or boo or throw things because by that stage he was so reviled and they were just completely stunned and just sat almost pinned in their seats.”

McGowan, who became a household name for his BBC sketch show The Big Impression, said the “thought-provoking” and “witty” 4000 Days strikes a very different tone. He said: “It’s looking at interesting issues such as what time does to people and memory and sexuality and how people cope with that, but it’s very funny as well.”

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The show, which opens in January, is part of a new season of work announced today by artistic director Jez Bond. It includes a play by Yes Minister co-creator Jonathan Lynn about French wartime leader Charles DeGaulle.

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