Golden oldie glows once again

January 12, 2010

By Diane de Beer

Stepping out of the spotlight at the end of last year as the director of Spoof Full of Sugar, Malcolm Terrey is back in the limelight in 2010 in the cast of Tomfoolery.

This is not the first time round with this particular musical review for Terrey.

"I did it 20 years ago," says the veteran of 37 years on stage.

He believes it holds up brilliantly and, while he describes it as a piece of antiquity based on songs written in the 50s and 60s, if you nurture antiques, he says, they glow.

That's what he feels has happened here. He's also delighted to work with Kate Normington in a production for the first time even though they're good pals. Add to that, Matthew Stewardson whom he has known since he was a little boy, and the trio on stage get on like a house on fire.

His career has been a blessed one, believes Terrey, but part of the success has been his versatility and the way clever producers and directors have not always typecast him.

Last year, for example, he started off with Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be which was the only production on his horizon at the start of 2009. He followed this with a part in the Black Ties production of Merry Widow, then went on a trip to Sweden as part of the Cape Town production of Showboat and concluded as the director of Spoof.

This year, the early prospects aren't much better but as an actor who has had only two slumps in his career, Terrey knows that probably he will be part of some production, somewhere in the world.

And if you ask him about a dream part still to come his way, he's quick off the mark: "Fagan in Oliver," he says. "I still have to do that and would love to do some more Shakespeare. It's all about growth and learning."

While he enjoys directing, he's only up for that when he can do what he knows best, musical reviews.

He describes Tomfoolery as a sophisticated, witty and nicely dressed night at the theatre.

"Tom Lehrer was the kind of writer who liked to poke fun at sacred cows, hence the cow on the poster," he explains.

Many of the songs will be familiar but the show has been juggled and rejigged with four actors becoming three, some songs contemporised and, as Terrey points out, nurtured.

With young director Greg Homann in command, it is given yet another contemporary edge.

But more than anything, it's a show ready to start the year on a silly if slightly slanted note. As Terrey says, "put me in a costume and point me to the stage. I'm always ready to go..."