Andrew Edlin is best known for his portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill in the play Churchill which he authored. The most frequent and compelling responses from audiences to this one man play is “I was inspired”, “What a man!”, “A wonderful evening, I cried at the end”.
In combination with performances, Andrew also offers free educational outreach talks to schoolkids or students, emphasizing how Churchill made such a difference as just one man, and he has a direct effect on kids’ lives today.
Andrew Edlin has performed in over 30 stage productions including Mr. Badger in Toad of Toad Hall; Erronius in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest; Sir Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband; Harpagon the Miser in The Miser; Munro Murgatroyd the villain in the melodrama Dirty Work at the Crossroads; Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady; Mr. Bumble in Oliver!; Drake the Butler in Annie; The Steward in Into the Woods; Sebastian in The Tempest; Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Mittler in Force of Nature; Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace; Major Metcalf in The Mousetrap; Frank Gilbreth Senior in Cheaper by the Dozen; six characters in The Dining Room, and both the Narrator and M. D’Arque the asylum keeper in Beauty and the Beast. In 2012 he produced and co-directed his abridgment of Shakespeare’s King Lear, in which he played the title role.
Edlin was born in Brighton, England. His grandfather was the actor Tubby Edlin. He was educated at Cranleigh School, Surrey, and went on to Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he received a scholarship in History. He graduated with a degree in Psychology and Philosophy. Some of the varied early productions in which Andrew Edlin appeared include Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun, The Representative, Christopher Fry’s A Sleep of Prisoners and Boris Godunov.
He studied the Sanford Meisner Acting Technique with Steve White, and voice training with Mike Jewell, Doug Daller and David Malis.
Andrew moved to the United States in 1990. He has two adult children, and two granddaughters, and lives with his wife, Tena, in Fairfield, Iowa.
VIDEO
To watch the 2 minute video click or copy/paste this link: http://vimeo.com/431883304
To watch the 15 minute showcase copy/paste this link: http://vimeo.com/432199764
PHOTOS
Play Synopsis
Big Ben strikes 10, and the first of many overhead images, and a BBC radio broadcast, set the scene that Sir Winston Churchill, aged 80, is pondering in his bunker ‘to go or not to go’ as Prime Minister. Churchill is very skeptical of the ability of his successor Anthony Eden – ‘he’s too nice’ – and somewhat of President Eisenhower – ‘Ike doesn’t quite get it’.
Churchill wryly and wittily reviews his life from birth on, looking for evidence of what to do. He segues from wise observation, to funny story, to iconic speech, to pithy analysis of colleague and enemy alike. Churchill sentimentally recalls his socialite mother, his remote disapproving father. Then his unhappy school life – ‘I never want to go there again!’, and then marrying his life sweetheart Clemmie, who so wants him to retire. His army career on 4 continents ending in World War One, a Member of Parliament, a Minister. As World War Two approaches, Churchill the orator, warns, and then leads, the free world against Hitler. He describes the alliance of necessity with Stalin – ‘if Hitler had invaded Hell, I would have at least made a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons’.
By the end of Act One, he has decided that he has to stay on. But he does not call his wife Clemmie…yet. ‘I’ll have my bath first, and then I’ll call her’. The lights come up on Act Two with Churchill off stage in the bath with the ‘phone ringing. On he comes in his bath towel. ‘Haven’t you ever seen a naked Prime Minister before?’ Churchill dresses, partly on stage, and reviews his relations with Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Truman, and those with his family. Emotionally, he speaks of his long dead father, whose love and approval Churchill has been trying to gain all his life. In an imagined exchange – ‘Is it enough, sir?’ – he finally gains the permission to rest and retire that he has been craving. He ‘phones Eden, and then Clemmie – ‘Yes, you were right!’ – and the play closes with some classic Churchillian advice – ‘Never flinch, never weary, never despair’ –
And, of course, a cigar.
Quotes
Quotes from the play:
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
“Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”
“You can always trust America to do the right thing – after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”
“A sheep – in sheep’s clothing. A modest man, who had a great deal to be modest about.”
“I have often had to eat my own words, and have found them a wholesome diet.”
“If we fail, then the whole world will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”
“If Hitler had invaded Hell, I would have at least made a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”
Reviews and comments:
“A marvelous show. From start to finish, our audience was hanging on every word. Every line, delivered perfectly by Mr. Edlin, was an insight into history and into the remarkable man who was Winston Churchill. There was laughter, tears, and moments of thoughtful silence as the esteemed British statesman graced our stage” – Warren Cultural Center
“Andrew Edlin is spellbinding as Winston Churchill…fascinating, hilarious and dramatic…a truly remarkable play”
“The acting was so good within a minute I had forgotten it wasn’t the man himself”
“For the opening weekend, Churchill sold out almost every night! We couldn’t have been happier with the turn out. The packed houses roared with laughter and were charmed with the funny stories. After each performance, the writer and sole performer, Andrew Edlin, would sit down on the stage and have a talk back with the audience. Each talk back was uniquely stirring and lasted almost half an hour!” – Old Creamery Theater
“Gales of laughter followed by an attentive silence where you could hear a pin drop”
“Edlin is in perfect control of his character. He is stubborn. He is aroused. He is loving. He is sad. He is irritated. He sobs. He jokes. He is regretful. He is proud. He is Churchill.” – Premiere at Odyssey Stage, 1997
“The stirring performance was everything we’d hoped for – and then some” – Arkansas State University, Mountain Home
“What a terrific performance! It was not Andrew Edlin on stage. It WAS Winston Churchill”
“Entertaining, informative and inspiring…Churchill has much to teach us about courage, determination, and political savvy”
“Charming, funny, and smart as hell – just like the man himself”
“Incredible – quite on par with, even above – other professional touring acts we have brought in” – Bluff City Theater, Hannibal MO
“Edlin has Churchill down pat… his delivery was spot on… delivered it to a full roar from an appreciative house” – McNeese University, Lake Charles LA
More Information:
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/ is the website of the Churchill Center. There is much fascinating and well-researched information there.
WHY CHURCHILL TODAY?
‘CHURCHILL’: MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER
President Zelensky of Ukraine uses Churchill’s example to motivate, shame, and exhort the world for aid. Churchill’s life was intertwined with Russia. He spent his first years of combat in Afghanistan, scene of the ‘Great Game’ for dominance between the Tsars and the British Empire. He was opposed to communism and the Bolshevik Revolution, and pushed Britain to finance military force to try and oust Lenin, but the attempt failed.
Never since Churchill died has he been more relevant to the world. With President Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the world, already reeling from the pandemic’s disruptions of national and international life, has been thrown back in time not only to the reality of World War Two horrors, but the revival of the threat of nuclear war.
Churchill tried to ally with the USSR before World War Two, only to see them join with the Nazis. But Hitler double-crossed Stalin in 1941, and the Alliance of the US, UK, and USSR eventually defeated Nazi Germany. Churchill was always clear-eyed about Russia. A chaotic, corrupt country with no democratic tradition, nuclear armed and dangerous. Churchill’s view was to maintain a posture of strength. Most importantly ‘NEVER be separated from the Americans!’
The second Trump Presidency has tested this key alliance. Churchill absorbed a lot of humiliation from FDR and Stalin as they carved up Europe at the Yalta conference, and I know he would only reiterate his cry of ‘NEVER be separated!’
Most audience members come to the play Churchill to enjoy an evening of theater. But increasingly I can get asked and, one reads ‘What would Churchill do?”
His candid, decisive, informed, collaborative leadership is his most enduring legacy. There is an ever more desperate yearning, that being around the wise, comforting, courageous, confident, winner-against-the-odds character of Winston Churchill will rub off – and help us answer our own increasingly worrying life-or-death questions as a civilization. Churchill’s life showed that a leader could be flawed, be wonderfully human, and still conquer his demons to achieve a level of legendary, indispensable greatness that few in the history of the world ever have. Confidence, a sense of destiny, and an infectious courage and grit, communicated to all who came in contact with him.
As he said himself of the RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain :
‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.’
Maybe to one – Winston Churchill.
CONTACT
TO CONTACT ANDREW EDLIN DIRECTLY:
churchillplay@outlook.com
FOR BOOKINGS CONTACT:
Robert “Bob” Zucker, Owner and Senior Agent
AMAZ Entertainment
www.amazentertainment.com
Direct:480-582-6291 ext. 101 Cell:480-528-0968 Fax:480-264-9001