Sir John Mortimer takes a wry, witty and sideways look at life in this evening of literary whimsy in the company of fine actors and musicians. He will be in the company of two well known actresses; Gabrielle Drake, who worked with Peter Sellers and acted in many popular TV series such as Coronation Street, and Joanna David,  also well known and well loved for her appearances in  4.50 From Paddington, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost , Midsomer Murders, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Darling Buds of May. Her partner Edward Fox recently performed on the Marine stage. They will be joining Sir John on the stage of the Marine Theatre on Thursday 11 October at 7.30 pm. Tickets from the Lyme TIC will be £13.50 in advance and £15.00 on the door. There will be two musicians completing the company on Thursday night, Jon Lord on Piano and Clive Conway on flute.

Sir John Mortimer - barrister, playwrights, creator of Rumpole, is a master raconteur.  With distinguished colleagues, Sir John presents a memorable show packed with stories, anecdotes from the legal world, poetry, music, the words of Byron, Auden, Hardy and even a few stories of bizarre real-life murders.  Poignant and hilarious memories from his childhood revealed in A Voyage Around My Father, Mortimer's miscellany is serious, sexy, occasionally sad but mostly funny, woven together with music and delivered with relish and even a little devilment! And if anyone should doubt his prominence, it is worth noting that he was mentioned twice during the O.J. Simpson trial, with one defence attorney remarking that, "as Mrs Rumpole would put it, I think we have a case of premature adjudication...."

One day John Mortimer was checking a reference in his "Complete Shakespeare" when the page fell open in the middle of "Henry VI, Part II" and his eye caught hold of two lines: "This evil here shall be my substitute; For that John Mortimer which now is dead..." Though the room goes suddenly cold, Shakespeare's actor is of course another person in another place, and "this" John Mortimer - happily lives on; public and private, poignant and frank, but above all wonderfuly funny.