Branagh Slips Into Olivier’s Shoes
It’s one of the most iconic roles in post-war theatre: Archie Rice, the clapped-out music-hall act who stands at the demoralised heart of John Osborne’s “The Entertainer“: the bankrupt exponent of a dying art-form in a country reeling from the Suez Crisis. Laurence Olivier created the part. Now, almost 60 years on, it’s the turn of Kenneth Branagh, the 55-year-old actor/director who’s been compared throughout his career to Lord Larry. Michael Billington says ‘Branagh is highly watchable as the music-hall veteran Archie Rice, but John Osborne’s portrait of a collapsing culture is undercut in a misjudged production.’
