BEING TOMMY COOPER: On The Anniversary Of His Death

It was a strange afternoon on Friday, rushing through Leicester Square dressed as Tommy Cooper having just left Bermondsey where I had been rehearsing for a new play by Tom Green. The play is called Being Tommy Cooper and takes place in Las Vegas in 1954 when Tommy faced the prospect of his first big failure with his show closing. It also focuses on his strained relationship with his manager, his drinking and his unfaithfulness.

I'm playing Tommy Cooper which is a dream role for me as Tommy is one of my comedy heroes. I grew up watching him along with Morecambe and Wise, Les Dawson and Laurel and Hardy and many other "old school" comedians and I was so influenced by them that I decided from an early age that that is what I wanted to do, to be a performer, to make people laugh. I became an actor at the age of fifteen, joined a rep theatre company and learnt my craft. 27 years later, I'm playing my hero, a genius and a true comedy legend.

The difficulty in Being Tommy Cooper is mastering the scenes when Tommy isn't performing, when he's being himself. There are no recordings of him when he isn't 'Being Tommy Cooper'. He was always 'on', playing up to the camera and never gave anything of himself away. The rehearsals are well under way now, the cast is great and working together well under the direction of Cecily Boys. We can't wait to open in Guildford and tour the UK this spring/summer 2013.

So, the reason I was making my way through Leicester Square dressed as Tommy Cooper with Neil and Georgina of Franklin Productions, carrying my bag of props (including Brian the rubber chicken!), is because I was on my way to Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket for a photo shoot on the stage, the very stage where Tommy died 29 years ago today.

It was a weird feeling walking in the same stage door he walked in that night, entering from stage left, the same side he entered and standing in the middle of the stage where he stood for the last time. Goosebumps, hairs standing on the back of my neck, shivers: I experienced
them all standing there going through my Tommy poses for the photographer. A member of the crew appeared and said, "That's where he died"; pointing to the prop store stage left,
"they dragged him into there, and that's where he died."

I followed the crew member into the tiny room and just stood there trying to look for signs of Tommy. Of course there wasn't any, just a prop monkey from The Phantom of the Opera, the show currently playing at Her Majesty's.

We finished the shoot as we only had a 20-minute window and left the stage. As I did, I turned and said goodbye to Tommy in my head, as though there is a little bit of him left in that building. I'd like to think there is.

DamIan Williams is playing Tommy Cooper in the UK tour of Being Tommy Cooper.

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