Success!!!!

Peter Jones - Tycoon.

Well I hope you liked my two repeat posts – took me back to when I wrote them, and I couldn't remember what I had written so it was a gentle reminder of wilder days.

My play went very well on Saturday; nothing went wrong, I seemed to be on form and it was a full house. I followed the play with a Q&A afterwards which went quite well.

One thing about the Q&A which made me laugh – the second question was from a woman in the front row and she asked - Is that your car outside? 

It was a Jag!! 

- Not guilty, I said.

So it was a success.

Well a success in my world; it was what I had aimed for and more, it was a chance to perform live in the theatre, which I think all actors should do at least once a year, and it was good for the ego – yes we certainly need that. Some actors just need to be recognised in the street to feel good but I like to work.

But what is success?

I think any actor that works is successful. If you knew how many of us are at it and how many of us never get a sniff you'd be surprised. It's a disease we all have – it's a bit like going to Las Vegas and winning a lot of money and being hooked on gambling for the rest of your life.

We chose this kind of life so there's no good moaning when things are not too good but I ask again what is success?

I was listening to The Archers on the radio, last night and a good friend of mine, whom I worked with in Night Must Fall in 1975, was in it for about 30 years; he died a couple of weeks ago and he loved being in show and was a success. I hadn't seen him since about 1978 - so you can see how good a friend he was - but that's what it's like being an actor. 

You don't see people for years and years and then when you see them again on a job it's as if you'd seen them the day before.

Whilst I was listening to The Archers, the television was on with the sound turned down and even though I couldn't hear it I knew what the programme was about.

An entrepreneur called Peter Jones was meeting two businessmen and – I presume – comparing ideas and getting to know them. One of the men was a 'Lord' who owed 80 million pounds and was determined to pay it all back. He drove a very posh car and ate in the best restaurants in London and lived the life of a . . . lived the life of a Lord!

The other was a working class businessman who had done very well for himself. I have no idea what he did but there were photographs of him as a boxer, years ago, and at one time he went into the ring with Peter Jones and sparred. 

Jones held the pads and the businessman hit them.

This fella had a huge house (I presume again) in Spain – in a sunny climate in any case – where he had tennis courts and all the rest of the paraphernalia, and a house with a swimming pool in Britain; his business was in the London area and he drove a Bentley.

Now that man, to me, was successful. 
It was and is a different kind of success from my success on Saturday evening.

If I was the working class businessman, above, I would be as delighted as he was but Peter Jones was suggesting that he open more branches – expand! 
- Why don't you open a branch in Manchester? he asked

Now why would he want to do that?

The multi billion multi national companies that run the world just could not stop their expansion, could they; just the thing Peter Jones wanted the above fella to do? 
He replied that he was happy as he was and I would be too - but isn't it a pity we let the big boys take over our world.

The Lord, mentioned above, was very comfortable years ago but how does anybody get to owe 80 million pounds – that's £80,000,000; about $120,000,000!!!!

I will bask in the warm glow of my little success on Saturday and, as it's a 'work in progress' I'll try and write down all I learned from the performance for the next time.