Lewis Fiander has died in his native Australia – one of the most talented actors it was my privilege to work with. (He played the Ivor Novello part in Perchance to Dream for me at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, in the 1980s.)
Laurence Olivier, when he was running the National Theatre at the Old Vic, announced that Lewis was his natural successor – so from that moment onward the English knives were out.
He had come to Olivier’s attention by having the audacity to audition for him in the part of Hamlet – one of Olivier’s most celebrated rôles…….
Lewis entered reading a book – and then quoted from it…..
To be or not to be….
In a fit of excited discovery, he then threw the book across the stage with:
That is the question!
Olivier’s response? ‘
Baby, if I had seen that I would have stolen it!
Lewis was a perfectionist – and that could drive lesser mortals mad. At the technical for Perchance to Dream he suddenly announced – in the broadest Australian….
I’m the leading man! I’ve got to die centre stage!
The designer of the show was completely outraged – but I said….
Lewis is right, you know….
So we completely redesigned the setting of the scene – to the infinite improvement of the production.
Lewis was kindness itself to the singers in the show who had less acting experience than himself: he would nudge them to the right place on the stage – often upstage of himself. He had a horrendous change – from modern day to highwayman times – in a matter of seconds. He was in at the theatre at dawn, practising running down a flight of stairs as he changed his trousers…..
He had style in abundance…….
…..but it was not the time for style.
A generous raconteur, he would seek out actors visiting Australia and take them out to dinner.
For me, he could no wrong – both as an artist and a man.
RIP, Lewis.
(12th January 1938 – 24th May, 2016)
The Shakespeare Code 
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