Impostor

[gazzawazza]

A few years ago, I was listening to the radio and the 'DJ' was telling a supposedly true anecdote.

The story involved a major hollywood star who was playing the lead role in a Shakespearan play London...

[gazzawazza]

...Half way through, a snooty art critic sitting right at the front decided he could take no more, and, standing up declared in a loud voice, "YOU, SIR, ARE AN IMPOSTOR."

At which point the star walked over to the edge of the stage and answered, "Hey, don't blame me, I didn't write this c**p!!!"

The DJ refused to reveal the identity of the star but my money is on Mel Gibson or possibly Sly Stallone.

Can anyone confirm if this did actually happen and if so, who was it???

[maxi29]

This has all the trappings of an urban myth. If anything like this did happen (and it sounds unlikely, can't imagine any critic doing that) it certainly wasn't London.

The only major American Hollywood star who has played the lead role in a Shakespeare play in London in the last couple of decades has been Dustin Hoffman in the Merchant of Venice in about 1989; he got rave reviews.

Of course, they have been British Hollywood stars who have played Shakespeare in the last couple of decades (Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Ralph and Joseph Fiennes,Alan Rickman) but they've generally received favourable reviews as well.

It's a good story though.

[gazzawazza]

Thanks Maxi, not being a London dweller or theatre-goer myself I wouldn't have any idea if it was true or not, but I suppose it would have been talk of the town if it did actually happen, so is this how you're so sure it didn't?

Anybody else got anything to add???

[maxi29]

I'm a theatre critic so I go to lots and lots of productions - that's why I'd be surprised if a London critic behaved that way as they're very undemostrative. Of course, an incident like that could have happened elsewhere (for example, Keanu Reeves and Kelsey Grammer have both had unhappy Shakespearean appearances in the past few years) but it still sounds far-fetched.
If it did happen, it was probably many years ago, well before my time.