Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell

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Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell is a play by Keith Waterhouse about real-life journalist Jeffrey Bernard who was still alive at the time the play was first performed in the West End in 1989.

The play, often remembered as a one-man show but in fact packed with characters performed by a versatile suporting cast of four, was a highly successful vehicle for its original star Peter O'Toole, who appeared in the original run at the Apollo Theatre and in a later revival at the Old Vic. The Old Vic run was totally sold out and on August 23rd, 1999, the London Evening Standard published a 'Bluffer's Guide' to enable readers to pretend they had seen it: "thereby allowing dinner party conversations and watercooler debates to run their course unhindered by ignorance." O'Toole was followed in the part by Tom Conti who, at the time of writing (June 2006) is starring in a revival of the play at the Garrick Theatre in London.

The title refers to the magazine's habit of printing a one-line apology when Jeffrey Bernard was too drunk or hung-over to produce his regular column. The premise is that the character has found himself locked in at a public house which he frequents.