Actors Rex Gray and Tom Rees.
Sarah Christiner
Camera IconActors Rex Gray and Tom Rees. Sarah Christiner Credit: Supplied/Sarah Christiner

The Sunshine Boys: Brentwood actor to star in Old Mill Theatre production

Bryce LuffMelville Gazette

BRENTWOOD resident Rex Gray will star in a touching and humorous presentation of The Sunshine Boys at the Old Mill Theatre, starting Wednesday.

Gray will play Al Lewis, one of two legendary comics brought together for a reunion and revival of their famous act.

Throwing a spanner in the works of the play by Neil Simon is the fact the co-stars have not spoken in 12 years and are far from amicable.

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“Over the course of 40-odd years, Al and Willie Clark not only grew to hate each other but never spoke to each other off-stage throughout the final year of their act,” Gray said.

“Much of the humour is derived from efforts to get the two cantankerous actors into the same room for a rehearsal, their differences of opinion once they reunite and their shenanigans on the TV reunion broadcast.”

Gray is no stranger to Neil Simon’s work, having appeared in Barefoot in the Park at Melville Theatre and a previous run of The Sunshine Boys at Harbour Theatre earlier this year.

“I know how good Simon’s plays are, so the chance to reprise my role as Al Lewis was too good an opportunity to pass up,” he said.

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