Matthew Kelly bringing ‘fantastically uplifting’ play ‘Filumena’ to Cambridge
Filumena – definitely not to be confused with the Dame Judi Dench film Philomena – stars Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly, and it will be on at the Cambridge Arts Theatre next week.
“A lot of people think it’s that Irish thing that Steve Coogan did with Judi Dench,” admits the very amiable Matthew Kelly, 74, speaking to the Cambridge Independent from Windsor, one of the other stops on the tour.
“This is Italian and it’s spelt a different way anyway… It’s Naples 1946 and in it, I get to marry Felicity Kendal twice. Now you wish you were me, don’t you?!
“She’s a fantastic woman, I absolutely adore her.”
In the story, a classic Italian comedy written by Eduardo De Filippo, Filumena (Felicity Kendal) lies on her deathbed, waiting to marry Domenico (Matthew Kelly), the man who has kept her as his mistress for 25 years.
But as soon as they are married, she makes a miraculous recovery, much to the surprise of her new, unwilling husband and his younger lover.
Filumena holds on to a secret from her past life, revealing one of her three grown-up sons is actually Domenico’s. But which one, and will he accept all three?
“The play is really about family,” explains Matthew, whose numerous West End credits include Funny Peculiar, Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen, Tim Firth’s Sign of the Times, the musical Lend Me A Tenor!, and Lennie in Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor.
“It’s a very unusual play; it has a really extraordinary plotline and there are three acts to it.
“We’re doing it in two halves, but at the end of each act there is a revelation that makes audiences gasp. And it’s really moving but it’s very funny as well. So it’s quite an odd old thing.”
He says of his present location (at the time of speaking): “We’re doing a bomb down in Windsor, they’re loving it down here.”
As well as Windsor and Cambridge, other towns and cities in the itinerary include Guildford, Bath and Richmond.
“It’s what we call the ‘Harvey Nicks tour’,” jokes Matthew, “as opposed to the Poundland tour that I’m usually on…”
On the character he portrays, Matthew says: “Dom Domenico Soriano is a very wealthy, boorish, quite old man of inherited wealth. He’s smug but at the same time he’s very vulnerable.”
As well as theatre, Matthew has also made quite a name for himself in television. He famously hosted the long-running series Stars in their Eyes, of course, and his other TV work includes Murder, They Hope, Cold Blood, Benidorm, Bleak House, and Moving On.
I was also pleased to see him, looking somewhat unrecognisable, in a memorable episode of Inside No 9 – the first of the ninth and final series, which was titled Boo to a Goose.
“I had the best time on that,” enthuses Matthew, “I love those boys. Steve Pemberton I did Benidorm with, and I’ve done a couple of things with Reece Shearsmith – one of which was Comedians, the Trevor Griffiths play, which we did at the Lyric in Hammersmith many years ago…
“And of course everybody’s desperate to do Inside No 9, I mean I was one of the ones who was desperate but I didn’t want to play myself.
“Quite often people go in and they play themselves but it was such a great part that. We spent a week in a disused railway carriage in Birkenhead.
“We laughed and laughed and laughed, honestly, I had the best time… and I went to the wrap party, which was at the VUE Cinema in Leicester Square.
“They showed the final Inside No 9 episode on the big screen at exactly the same moment as it was being televised and Steve and Reese did a Q&A.”
Matthew’s co-star in Filumena, Felicity Kendal, also did an episode of Inside No 9, a series three highlight called Private View.
“She’s a great girl you know,” says Matthew, “she’s fantastic to work with, and of course we did Noises Off together in the West End.
“Felicity is a fantastic company member and she’s just great to be with. She’s kind, she’s generous on stage, she’s very funny, and she’s great with the whole company.”
Matthew believes that Filumena would appeal to “absolutely anybody of any age” – “because it’s such an unusual thing”.
He adds: “It’s really about family and it’s about equality, it’s about being non-judgmental, and it’s funny. As a piece of theatre it’s fantastically uplifting.”
Matthew is looking forward to coming back to Cambridge (he was last at the Arts Theatre in The Dresser, in which he acted alongside Julian Clary, in 2021).
“I love Cambridge, what’s not to like about Cambridge?” he says, “and they’re going to refurb the front [of the Cambridge Arts Theatre] as well. Isn’t that marvellous?
“Do you remember how it used to be? In the olden days, when I first played the Arts Theatre, it was fantastic.
“There used to be a café at the top and all the front was open, and people used to come in and out and there were local artists exhibiting their stuff…
“It was a real hub, so it needs going back to that, I think, because that’s what theatres should be really, they should be the heart of the community.
“And they shouldn’t really have a box office that’s down an alley, down the side that nobody can find, do you know what I mean?!
“It’s a fantastic place, it’s a lovely theatre, and it’s a really friendly place to come to.”
In a recent interview, Matthew stated that he still enjoyed acting because he “likes to get out the house”.
“Do you know what? I love the company of actors,” he says, “I love the process, I love the larking about, I love the anecdotes, I love drinking tea, I just like the whole thing of being with actors.
“They’re kind people and they’re generous and supportive – and bonkers. Who could want for more in a day’s work playing in the dressing-up box?”
Are there any particular roles on Matthew’s ‘to do’ list?
“Well I don’t really want to do it, to be honest with you, because a) I’m intrinsically lazy and b) I’m primed most of the time, but I do know that I’m going to have to do Lear,” he replies.
“But that’s only because I have to, it’s not because I want to. But any part does me really.”
Filumena runs at the Cambridge Arts Theatre from Tuesday, 5 November, to Saturday, 9 November. Tickets, priced £25-£45, are available from cambridgeartstheatre.com.
