Sunshine

Here's the Communist modelling his costume for a play in 1993, when he was seventy: he's at the studio of the Grand Theatre in Leeds:

The play was A House by the Sea, by Stuart Fortey, and the Communist played a theatre porter who went to a fancy-dress party with lots of actors - the play was set during the first night of Chekhov's The Seagull.

The porter tried to impress them with his sun costume and they all failed completely to notice him.

The porter's key line was "Very good, your costume" which he said in the hope that they would compliment him on his. They didn't.

Until I saw this photo, which Stuart Fortey kindly sent to me this week, I'd almost forgotten where the line came from. It has passed into our family history and we say it every time anyone gets dressed up in any way.

"Very good, your costume."

Occasionally we say the line that my grandmother, the Communist's mother, used to say in her strong Eastern European accent, which was "I wish you well to wear it."

And occasionally we say the line that my other grandmother, my mother's mother, used to say, which was "It's lovely from the back." We were never sure how to take that one.