Amanda Lawrence plays Charles Hawtrey
Amanda Lawrence's incarnation of Charles Hawtrey is uncanny
Patrick Strudwick
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6901239.eceMen playing women is as old as theatre itself. Women playing men playing women is a considerably more novel proposition. Next week, as part of Homotopia, Liverpool's cultural jamboree of all things lesbian, gay and transgender, Amanda Lawrence will play Charles Hawtrey, the cross-dressing star of the Carry On films, in a one-"man" show called Jiggery Pokery.
The production explores the polarities of the actor's life, from celebrated performer to solipsistic sot. As Lawrence, 38, shifts between episodes from his childhood, old age, film and theatre work, she also impersonates those he met along the way, including Laurence Olivier, Barbara Windsor and Hawtrey's beloved, senile mother.
