The Times We Lived In: Luvvie, you shouldn’t have

Would you like a sweetie, sweetie? Ooh, it's just too tempting: the luvvie-land of theatre being what it is, there are a hundred cheeky captions which might fit this picture. It was taken at the Gate Theatre in Dublin on the occasion of a presentation to the actor Christopher Casson – on the right of the shot – to celebrate his 63rd birthday and his 60th year on the stage.

And before you reach for your device to correct us, yes: that does actually compute. The veteran actor, best remembered now for his long-running role as Canon Browne in The Riordans, made his stage debut at the age of three in a production of Julius Caesar at the Old Vic in London. (The fact that his mother was the actress Sybil Thorndike may have helped swing the toddler's audition). Making the birthday presentation at the end of a performance of, appropriately enough, Oliver Goldsmith's play The Good-Natur'd Man are Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir. Casson and Mac Liammóir are still in costume, all embroidery and ribbons and fur; Casson is also holding a top hat in his left hand. Edwards is in a sober suit.

The fact that the shot has captured all three with their hands on the birthday gift makes the moment theatrical in itself; as much a tug-of-war as a handover. Mac Liammóir, still in his stage make-up, casts his eyes stage right to Edwards as if about to deliver a line from a particularly ripe Restoration comedy.

Well, they were no strangers to good lines, or as an openly gay couple in Ireland before it was fashionable, legal or even, in many circles, acceptable, to controversy.

As for the "present", jauntily wrapped in tartan paper, it is not a naughty box of chocs but, we are told, an entirely decent and proper replica copy of the Book of Kells. Just the job for a clean-living Anglican clergyman.

Arminta Wallace

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