DESPITE first getting an airing in 1980, The Dresser has seen numerous interpretations.

In 1983 it became an award-winning film starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay and last year was adapted for the BBC with Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins in the leading roles.

Set in the 1940s, it tells the story of Sir, a lead actor, and Norman, his dresser, who are reluctantly and inevitably co-dependent.

Sir is portrayed as the last of a dying breed of great English Shakespearean actor, unwilling to take to the stage to deliver his renowned portrayal of King Lear. It falls to his faithful dresser Norman to rouse another great performance from him, to keep both the show and its star from falling apart.

This incarnation of Ronald Harwood’s play features Reece Shearsmith in the role of Norman and Ken Stott as Sir.

Stott is well-suited to the role of a man with a fixed vision.

The Hobbit actor, who played Balin on the silver screen, tells The Guide he had no intention of looking at how previous adaptations of The Dresser unfolded.

“The last thing you really want to do is have in mind somebody else’s performance. We didn’t use anything else as a reference point.”

Stott has been involved in theatre for about the same time as his character: “What I bring to this character is a working knowledge and that understanding of what it is like being an actor of 40 years in the theatre.”

Stott says there is a satisfaction from being able to deliver onstage some of the backstage strife.

“We understand that those with no knowledge of the theatre would like to know what it’s like backstage and the language of backstage. And this is an opportunity for them to see that. We have to remind ourselves that the vast majority of people watching this play have no knowledge of that so some things will have to be spelt out.

“But it does afford us a lot of laughter: we do understand the situation that Sir or The Dresser go through – the terrible anxieties, the awfulness of going onstage in front of a first-night audience. This play does illustrate just how nerve-wracking and terrifying that situation can be.

“There is immense energy required for this role. It requires as much energy as one would put into playing Lear himself. And the emotional leaps are very sudden, like an athlete going from a standing start.”

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