God forbid that his son should be associated with anything unseemly. The result? The scene plays as written, but with The Beatles singing "Helter-Skelter". For those of you who think Kevin Elyot and My Night With Reg and leap to the gay (and wrong) conclusion, I should point out that the sex in question gets little further than intimate, fully clothed snogging and that the people concerned are heterosexual. Hendrix's father - who a couple of years back won an extended legal battle to control the estate - had read the relevant scenes and he wasn't happy.
Why?Because the play contained scenes of sex and lovemaking which besmirched Jimi's reputation.Er, pardon? We seem to be in the realm of "the love that dare not speak someone else's name". Only after the play had opened did word reach them that there was a problem. Who could argue with that?The National had cleared the rights with the Performing Rights Society, no problem was forseen and PRS set about formally contacting the Hendrix estate. Meanwhile, Elyot and his merry band went about their business.
Cut forward 20 years to the National Theatre and Kevin Elyot's (right) The Day I Stood Still. The final scene takes place in 1969, with the hero and his friend enraptured by Jimi. They mention seeing him in concert; they dance to "Are You Experienced?" and "The Wind Cries Mary" and quote a few lines They are youthful and optimistic and they're big fans. As Time wrote of a performance in 1968: "He hopped, twisted and rolled over sideways without missing a twang or a moan.
He slung the guitar low over swivelling hips, or raised it to pick the strings with his teeth; he thrust it between his legs and did a bump and grind, crooning: `Oh baby, come on now, sock it to me.'" And just what has this got to do with theatre? Bear with me. Far right: Anish Kapoor's tiny rooftop terrace becomes an oasis of calm with a frost of white marble pebbles and a single fig tree. Kapoor's other small terrace (above right) is a moss-framed rectangle of black marble pebbles and a Gunnera manicata, which will grow huge in the summer, filtering a greenish light into the bathroom. Be honest, how many of you knew that Jimi Hendrix toured with The Monkees? As the support.