Entertainment
Robert Bathurst on becoming a ‘deep fan’ of Dolly Parton after starring in her Christmas musical-Hugh Montgomery-Entertainment – Metro
‘She shows an extraordinary musicality and an ability for clever, economic storytelling.’
Robert Bathurst stars as Scrooge in Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
Robert Bathurst tells me that he has ‘always been attracted by very unlikely projects’. And what could be more unlikely for the actor – best known for his depictions of upper-crust Englishmen in Cold Feet and Downton Abbey – than a starring role in a Dolly Parton musical?
Yes, that’s right, Robert is playing Scrooge in Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, the Queen of Country’s all-American take on the Dickens classic, which transplants the action to the mountains of East Tennessee during the Great Depression and recasts Ebenezer as a mean-spirited coal mine owner. ‘Perhaps it’s a stretch for people to think I could possibly do it, and that’s also the best reason for doing it,’ he says, succinctly.
In fact, this is Robert’s first ever musical role, full stop: ‘I’m surrounded by people who are brilliant musical theatre actors… my eyes are on stalks watching them work,’ he says.
And while Scrooge is a straight acting role, he gets his own ‘redemption song’ towards the end. ‘I’m finding out late on in my life whether I can sing or not,’ he reveals.
So what’s the verdict? ‘I really relish [the song]. They trusted me with this part and so I’m going to do it – but I stick to the melody, thank you very much, I’m not mucking about with the harmonies.’
The show’s score is in the style of Appalachian string band music, which was the precursor to modern country and bluegrass, and centred around guitar, fiddle and banjo. Most of the numbers have been specially written by Dolly for the show, but Robert immersed himself in her legendary songbook in preparation, meaning he is now a proper Dolly devotee.
The show is a take on the Charles Dickens classic, but with a Tennessee twist (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
‘Of course I knew her big hits like Jolene, but I hadn’t looked into her career and her early life,’ he says. ‘There is a song on her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, where she says “I’ve lived my life and I’m only 18,” and that does sum her up. She has obviously known poverty and deprivation and was writing about it from a very young age – and showed an extraordinary musicality as well and an ability for clever, economic storytelling in her lyrics. So I’m late to the party, but I am now a deep fan.’
Robert first entertained the idea of acting aged 13 after getting a laugh in a school play. ‘It was no doubt not merited. But [the laughter] came up and came big and I thought, “Right, I’d like to ride another of those, thank you.”’
Robert says he’s now a ‘deep fan’ of Dolly Parton (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
Having gone to Cambridge University to study law, he became president of the Footlights comedy club: a notable breeding ground for stars the like of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, among others. It provided a great initiation, Robert says.
‘It was enjoyably brutal in some ways because a few times a term you went on stage in the Club room and tried out new material, and you knew very quickly when it wasn’t working,’ he chuckles.
Professionally, Robert amassed a string of comedy credits, appearing in the unaired Blackadder pilot as well as the likes of Red Dwarf and The Lenny Henry Show, although it was by accident rather than design. ‘[Comedy] was what I was given, it was what I was allowed to do… I always think comedy is regarded by those who do drama as being rather down the end of the pier,’ he says.
Carole Stennett plays Mrs Dilber in the production (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
‘There is a snobbery against it, and I suspect it took me a time to get seen for stuff in drama [because of that]’. What changed things, of course, was his role in Cold Feet, the long-running ITV show which blended comedy and drama so perfectly: Robert was so brilliant as the emotionally awkward, bumbling David that it is difficult to detach him from the character.
Despite that, he’s never worried about being typecast. ‘There is a tendency for people to send me stuff along those lines, but I’ve always tried to do stuff which isn’t expected if I can.’ he says. ‘The fact that people see me as David and maybe only see me as that – they can feel that, but I’m very glad I’ve done it.’
Robert has never worried about being typecast as a comedy actor… (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
…but he gradually took on more stage roles (Picture: Manuel Harlan)
Indeed, as the years have gone by, he’s stretched himself with ever more interesting projects: other recent stage work includes Love, Loss & Chianti, his own adaptation of two works by Costa prize-winning poet Christopher Reid, while in 2019, he played notorious journalist and boozer Jeffrey Bernard in Soho’s Coach & Horses pub in a site-specific production of Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.
As for what the future holds, Robert says ‘serendipity and happenstance’ has always been his way of working. But now he has finally done a musical, might this be the beginning of a new jazz-hands phase for him?
It’s unlikely, he laughs. ‘There may be shows in musical theatre where there’s that sort of singing-acting role that would fit me, but you won’t find me as the Phantom Of The Opera, I promise you.’
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol is at London’s Southbank Centre until January 8, 2023
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