In the summer of 1968,the RSC began a series of “new work “productions at the Aldwych Theatre to mark the occasion of the USA Presidential elections that autumn. The first of the new plays was INDIANS by Arthur Kopit and I was fortunate to obtain a ticket for the First Night -no previews in those days. I still have vivid memories of the production which was based on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and remember the telling monologue from the actor playing the captured Geronimo -my first experience of Geoffrey Hutchings as a member of the RSC.
Earlier that year, the company had presented two new productions in Stratford and then transferred them to London after a short run by the Avon. The plays were JULIUS CAESAR (directed by John Barton) and THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (the first RSC production from Terry Hands).Geoffrey appeared in both and they ran into the following year. He showed his remarkable versatility with the doubling of Cicero/Octavius Caesar and the comic servant Simple, the latter being given a walk out of Mack Sennett which brought the house down. Geoffrey’s flair for comedy continued with a splendid cameo as Dr Serringe in the revival of THE RELAPSE which joined the Aldwych repertoire in the spring of 1969.
His flair for playing politicians on the rising tide of fame continued back in Stratford later that year when he played Cromwell in the RSC’s first production of HENRY VIII, and my wife and I also recall his double faced tribune, Sicinius Veletus twenty years later in a production of CORIOLANUS directed by John Barton and Terry Hands.
Geoffrey had special gifts for comedy/comic voices and we recall with additional pleasure, his Autolycus (with Gilbert and Sullivan type patter songs) in Ronald Eyre’s 1981 production of THE WINTER’S TALE as well as his Captain Andy Hawks in the RSC/Opera North production of SHOWBOAT.
Splendid theatrical memories indeed!
Tony Boyd-Williams
RSC Friends 
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