Wisdom of a Fool: Play about Norman Wisdom will show the desperation behind the slapstick

A stone’s throw from the entrance to London’s Victoria Station, a small man in an ill-fitting tweed suit, mangled tie, scuffed shoes and cloth cap with an upturned peak threads his way through commuters towards a statue of the French First World War commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. A homeless man sleeps at the base of the plinth; confused Chinese tourists pause in its shadow, poring over their guidebooks; taxis and buses hurtle past.

Accompanied by a photographer, Jack Lane – the little man in the suit – climbs the steps to the statue and appears to trip and stumble, drawing laughter from bemused passers-by who instantly recognise the pratfall, the face-pulling and the suit as trademarks of the comedy icon Norman Wisdom.

Lane, a 28-year-old actor, portrays Wisdom in a self-penned, one-man play about the comedian’s troubled early life and rise to fame as Britain’s best-loved comic of the 1950s and 1960s – a master of slapstick and pathos once praised by Charlie Chaplin as his “favourite clown”. Lane’s affectionate tribute, Wisdom of a Fool, celebrates the centenary of the comedian’s birth and heralds the fifth anniversary of his death, aged 95, in October 2010.

Lane’s photocall at the Foch statue is poignant. He is wearing one of Wisdom’s original “Gump” suits, a treasured heirloom loaned by the comic’s family, and it was on this spot in 1930 that the then 14-year-old Norman used to sleep rough. A true Dickensian street urchin, he lived in a succession of institutions and foster homes after his parents separated, his mother moved out and his hard-drinking, violent father disowned Norman at the age of nine. As Wisdom quipped in his autobiography My Turn: “I was born in very sorry circumstances. Both of my parents were very sorry.”

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“My appearance as Norman turned heads,” says Lane. “But people immediately knew who it was, which proves how iconic Norman’s look is. Passers-by were shouting: ‘Alright, Norman.’ It was as if he had been brought home, back to that same statue where he slept as a 14-year-old.”

The determination that propelled the young Wisdom to overcome adversity is the central theme of Lane’s show, which premieres this week at the Capitol Theatre in Horsham – where Wisdom himself performed in 1989. Lane, who quit his job as a technician at the Capitol to pursue the project, has previously had success with stage adaptations of Steptoe and Son scripts, appearing as the crotchety Albert Steptoe, with the blessing of the sitcom’s writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

“I grew up with old-school comedy. I’m 28 going on 82,” jokes Lane. “I got into everything: Steptoe and Son, Morecambe and Wise and the Carry On films. But when I first watched Norman in The Early Bird when I was eight I thought he was fantastic. At that age, the attraction is seeing adults being silly. I remember just howling with laughter at Norman playing the vicar on the golf course. But as you get older you look at his films from another point of view. Now they have that lovely retro charm; a nice warmth.”

Norman’s death spurred Lane to dramatise his rags-to-riches story. “It had fascinated me for so long,” he recalls. “I started going through his autobiography and noting key moments in his childhood that would have charged him.

“Norman would talk about his early life in interviews, but it was always a media-friendly soundbite, and he didn’t like to talk about it too much. His children, Nick and Jackie, have told me Norman would very rarely, if ever, talk about his dad because the memories were so painful.”

The narrative-driven, two-act play follows Norman’s progress from his desperate childhood up until his first film – 1953’s Trouble in Store. He enlists as a teenage bandsman in 1930s India, becoming the British Army’s flyweight boxing champion. He serves in Winston Churchill’s communications bunker during the war, then takes his first steps as an entertainer in postwar variety shows and music halls, fine-tuning the hapless character of “The Gump” and adopting his iconic costume.

Turning professional at 31, Wisdom finds West End fame almost overnight and goes on to make the first of 19 hit films that are still loved by millions, even in such unexpected places as Albania and Iran.

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Lane, who has performed with the National Theatre and founded the Engine Shed Theatre Company in 2010, believes he shares Wisdom’s determination and work ethic. “I got straight into theatre as soon as I left school and learned everything on the job,” he says. “I never went to college, or Rada. It’s just been sheer work, work, work. That’s the way Norman came to it, which is why I connect with him so much. His experience is hugely inspirational.”

Nevertheless, Lane stresses that the show is no hagiography of his hero. “He wasn’t a perfect man at all,” he says. “He was hard-working, but he made mistakes in his life. He prioritised his work over his marriage, for example.

“I’ve tried to get the balance right with his story, and to tell the truth. It’s a fine line to tread because you are dealing with someone who was so loved, and still is. But I did a read-through of the show with his children and they haven’t asked for single word to be changed.”

‘Wisdom of a Fool’ is at the Capitol Theatre, Horsham, 17-19 September (01403 750220; thecapitolhorsham.com)