Description of Jimmie Langton

Jimmie Langton is one of the most extraordinary characters in William Somerset Maugham’s brilliant novel «Theatre». Jimmie is fat, bald-headed and rubicund man of forty-five that enamoured with theatre. He ran a repertory theatre at Middlepool that attracted a good deal of attention.

Despite the aspiration of performing on a stage, he doesn’t have a talent or attractive appearance. Jimmie is eccentric person that has his natural flamboyance, so due to this fact all of his roles were turned into a grotesque.

Nevertheless, In the meantime of rehearsal his cast, Jimmie appears in the different light. Jimmie Langton is truly great at what he does.

Jimmie dedicates himself to theatre and demands beyond results from his actors. He bullied, yelled, mocked and even underpaid his performers.

He is emotional and unstable person, so when he was satisfied, he would hop on one leg on the stage and when he was disappointed, he would throw the script down and stamp on it.

Despite all of this, the company liked Jimmie, probably, because he aroused protectitive instinct in them that not a singe soul could let him down. When actors were saying that he drove them like slaves and they never had a moment for themselves, they still obeyed his outrageous demands with inner satisfaction.

Due to his honor, he could make an old performer feel himself like Charles Kean by a firm handshake.

In my opinion, Jimmie abides the motto: “There are no small parts, only small actors”, therefore when he was taking a short holiday, which he spent in going every night to theatre in one town after another, he firstly saw potential of Julia Lambert unsuccessfully representing a woman of forty. He pointed out her weaknesses and suggested practice to make her indeed brilliant actress.