The Stage

I Found My Horn

Published Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 12:10 by Gerald Berkowitz

Facing his midlife crisis, journalist Jasper Rees turned to the French horn, which he had studied as a teenager, but not played for 25 years, and set himself the challenge of being good enough to perform in public in a year.

His recently published memoir of the adventure has been turned by actor Jonathan Guy Lewis into a slight but charming character study and solo performance piece.

Omitting most of Rees’ background material, history of the horn and thoughts on various classical composers, the actor-adaptor focuses on the comedy and drama of the personal adventure, capturing the mix of determination and sheer panic that drive Jasper.

High points include affectionately comic portrayals of the several teachers and mentors picked up along the way, all of them dubious at the start, but won over by the quixotic heroism of the quest, and the climactic performance, which Lewis - a skilled horn player himself - reproduces with just the right level of triumphant adequacy, while simultaneously miming the inner thoughts and horrors of the amateur on the spot. Throughout, the combination of the performer’s sensitivity and personal charm with the story’s irresistibility as a celebration of the British amateur eccentric makes for a thoroughly enjoyable hour.