The Life I Lead

The Fascinating Story Of David Tomlinson

Celebrated stand-up Miles Jupp brings the extraordinary life and times of English stage and screen icon David Tomlinson to rip-roaring life on the Park Theatre stage in the Spring of 2019. The world premiere work chronicles Tomlinson's stellar career built on playing the role of a very specific type of Englishman - one with a stiff upper lip and formal to a fault, but at the same time brimming with a self-referential silliness. This culminated in the role he was perhaps best known for, Mr. Banks the patriarch of the family saved by the magical Mary Poppins.

Yet the fascinating life of the actor held many facets that aren't just tied to his many dramatic pursuits. Tomlinson saw action as a fighter pilot in World War II, served as a flight instructor in Canada and crashed a Tiger Moth plane in his own back garden! Heart ache also followed his adventures, in the form of the early death of his first wife and his struggles to get his son recognised as one of the first British cases of autism. This relationship between son and father stands at the centre of this funny and deeply moving new work, bringing to light the personal tribulations and triumphs of one of Britain's most famous faces.