Christopher BenjaminFORTY-two years ago, actor Christopher Benjamin appeared in Salisbury Playhouse's panto production of Jack and the Beanstalk as the dame and admits he was far too young for the part.
"I spent two years with Reggie Salberg's company in Salisbury from 1960 to 1962 and during that time I played 43 different parts. But I was only 25 when I played the dame and I don't think I was very good - a bit too young. I also played Othello and Falstaff during that time, both much older men."
But now Christopher Benjamin is back in Salisbury and this time he is playing a character much more suited to his age as the retired Colonel Selby in N C Hunter's play, Waters of the Moon.
Waters of the Moon has been described as a 'lost classic'. Written by N C Hunter in 1951, it has not been performed professionally since 1978. In its original West End production it starred theatre legends Dame Sybil Thorndyke and Dame Edith Evans.
The play is set in the 1950s in a hotel on Dartmoor and focuses on a group of retired residents whose perspective on life alters after the unexpected arrival of visitors from the city seeking shelter from a New Year snowstorm.
Christopher likens the play to Chekhov: "The writer N C Hunter was known to be an admirer of Chekhov and this play is his homage. Hunter writes beautifully and Waters of the Moon is a very warm play.
"I am also delighted to be back in Salisbury."
"It was wonderful living here. My wife, Cynthia Taylor, was also in Reggie Salberg's company and our first child was born at Odstock hospital. We lived in a flat in The Close before moving to the rectory at Lower Bemerton. Our children were christened in George Herbert's church there. It seemed to be always summer for those two years - sheer bliss - and Reggie Salberg was such an inspiration for actors just starting up in the profession, like myself."
Born in Trowbridge, Christopher Benjamin considers himself something of a 'local boy' as he explains. "I went to school in Warminster and then went on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art on a Wiltshire County Council scholarship. I was probably the only Wiltshire sponsored actor there at the time."
Following his two-year stint at Salisbury, Benjamin and his wife moved to Bristol before he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, which dominated his career over the next 30 years. Among his many productions with the RSC was playing Kent alongside Nigel Hawthorne's King Lear. He also appeared in the National Theatre production of Noises Off at the Piccadilly Theatre with Isla Blair, who is also starring in Waters of the Moon.
"Isla plays Helen Lancaster, a rather posh, rich lady," says Christopher. "But the play is full of interesting characters, it is very much an ensemble piece. I think it is going to be a wonderful surprise of a play and will delight audiences of all ages. I hope younger people will come and see it as the parts for the younger actors are excellent."
Looking beyond Waters of the Moon, Benjamin is going to be fulfilling a long ambition. "I am going to play Falstaff again, in the open air Regent's Park production this' summer. It is an exhausting part, but I am the right age for it now. I just hope it is not too hot."
Christopher Benjamin will also be seen on television soon in the new series of Foyle's War.
Waters of the Moon opens next Thursday, January 22 and is directed by Joanna Read. It runs until Saturday, February 7 and tickets are available from the box office.
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