An Audience with John Sergeant Review in The Big Issue

Talk
John Sergeant
New Theatre, Cardiff
The high-back red velvet chair, the side table and the carafe spotlighted on the empty stage at the New Theatre suggest the imminent arrival of a gentleman – albeit one with a roguish sense of humour.
To meet John Sergeant these days is to be treated to a politics lesson, only one you’re not going to fall asleep in. Pithy anecdotes about his jousting with Margaret Thatcher sit next to turns about his infamous stint on Strictly Come Dancing (he’s still surprisingly honest about his two left feet).
But it’s the gem-like anecdotes from his early career – including being taught by playwright Robert Bolt, and a shock off-the-cuff remark that he was present in 1963 when a ‘Baptist teacher from Georgia’ told all America he had a dream – that really raise eyebrows. This is the man who, aside from being in the audience of one of the most important speeches of the last century, also reveals that Gordon Brown’s favourite film is Miracle on 34th Street – the irony is not lost
Jenny Edwards