In what must be one of history's cruellest cases of nominative
determinism, the 18th century actor Samuel Foote really did lose a leg.
Ian Kelly adapts (and appears in) his own historical biography
Mr
Foote's Other Leg, in which Foote (Simon Russell Beale) meets fellow
aspiring actors Peg Woffington (Dervla Kirwan) and David Garrick (Joseph
Millson) at an elocution class. When their tutor, and the leading actor
of his day, Charles Macklin (Colin Stinton) accidentally kills a co-star
on stage he's banned from acting, and his students see an opportunity.
With the Lord Chamberlain coming down hard on new plays, the three
decide to focus instead on revivals of a respected but neglected
playwright - William Shakespeare. For Garrick, the rest is history: He
became one of the first superstar actors, and still has a London theatre
named after him. And his love of Shakespeare proved infectious, helping
create the icon we know today.
