The Stage

Alfie

Published Monday 23 January 2012 at 11:09 by Andrew Liddle

Our eponymous hero is the sort of self-deluding utter solipsist now seen fairly commonly on reality television. But back in the Swinging Sixties, it was a type sufficiently rare for a new cult hero to emerge - thanks largely to Michael Caine’s iconic portrayal in the 1966 film.

Isobel Ford (Lily Clamacraft) and David Ricardo-Pearce (Alfie) in Alfie at the Octagon, Bolton Photo: Ian Tilton

David Ricardo-Pearce gives the bravura performance of his career as the Cockney geezer who has evolved his own self-justifying philosophy, and is not slow to put other people straight when they fall short of his high standards.

Among the trusting, naive pre-feminist dollies he favours with his presence are two brought to life by the excellent Isabel Ford. Siddie is his Thursday girl, advised to give her cuckolded husband a good time in recompense. Lily is the plain housewife he gets in the family way and at the centre of one of the most harrowing scenes imaginable, involving backstreet abortionist Mr Smith (John Branwell).

Then there’s Barbara Hockaday’s long-suffering Gilda. He feels badly let down by her as she reluctantly drifts towards the unimaginative Humphrey (Eamonn Riley) when left holding the baby. And let’s not forget Annie, the northern lass, done to a turn by Vicky Binns. He lords it while she scrubs the floor and irons his shirts, then dumps her when he grows tired of her hotpot.

We warm to Francesca Ryan’s buxom Ruby who two-times him, bringing on a bout of self-pity and head-shaking at human inconstancy.

This revival of Bolton’s most famous literary son’s best-known work has hit written all over it - especially when directed by resident genius, David Thacker.