Obituary: Peter Copley

I first met Peter Copley, who has died aged 93, when I directed him as Orgon in a production of Molière's Tartuffe at the Bristol Old Vic in 1985. We became immediate friends; I found an actor of huge experience but astonishingly open to new ideas. We staged Tartuffe on two levels joined by a steep staircase, and "Coppers" (as he was known to his family and friends), already in his 70s, developed a performance, egged on by me, that had him running up and down the stairs in an increasing frenzy. It was perhaps not surprising that Shosh, his wife, kept an eye on us both from then on. She made it clear that Peter ending The Cherry Orchard as a naked Firs was a concept too far. By the time I met Peter he was at an age when most people's careers would be ending. Perhaps he never had the ego to be an Olivier, Gielgud or Guinness -... [read full story]