The funny thing about watching a beloved film over and over again throughout your whole life is that you think you somehow know a character, and by extension, the actor playing them. Of course, any amount of interrogation of this assumed knowledge of a person will make it fall apart. Having seen Mary Poppins approximately a thousand times, I (and I imagine a good deal of the film-watching public) always thought of David Tomlinson as being staid and regimental Mr Banks – ultimately kind, but so uncomfortably British he didn’t have any real way of conveying this to his family. James Kettle has turned this assumption on its head, writing a warm comedy which tells the real story of David Tomlinson, as an actor, as a father, and as a son.

Miles Jupp plays Tomlinson in this one-hander. He is jovial and conversational with the audience, teasingly assuming that we remember him from his romantic comedy success, Marry Me. This type of play, where the actor monologues directly to the audience could easily be flat and biographically factual, but instead, Jupp draws us in. It’s possible to forget you’re in a theatre; you could just as easily be in a drawing room, hearing him tell his life story over a glass of something.

Tomlinson recounts the story of his life in a lively, natural way, jumping from anecdote to anecdote. He tells of his encounters with Walt Disney and the making of Mary Poppins, of course, but the stories all come back to his stern, withholding father, CST, or his relationship with his own sons, and particularly his third son, Willy.

The staging is wonderful. Incredibly simple, it’s entirely set in a drawing room. There is a door in the centre of the stage with a cut-out in the shape of Mr Banks – his posture and iconic bowler hat instantly recognisable. Jupp enters and exits through the cut-out, rather than opening the door. Behind is a wall, painted like a sky – blue, with fluffy white clouds. With bowler hats dotting the stage, it seems like a nod to Magritte, giving the scene a dreamlike, slightly surrealist quality. The lighting changes subtly with the changing moods of Tomlinson’s words, and there is a light motif of the titular song of the play, The Life I Lead, picked out on a piano behind the scenes, and at a couple of points sung by the actor.

The play is funny and charming, but it is more than that – it’s genuine and emotionally-honest. Towards the end, Tomlinson touches on the core of what I think the play does perfectly. He says that he is always careful to stop and speak to people who think of him as Mr Banks. He says ‘Be careful with other people’s memories’. This is precisely what this play does – it’s a wonderful nostalgia trip, while telling a story which will be new to much of the audience. An utter delight.    ★★★★★   @BookingAround at Oxford Playhouse on  6^th March 2019