Legends (play)

In late 2006, Joan Collins began a tour of North America in the play " [http://www.legendsthecomedy.com/ Legends!] " with former "Dynasty" co-star Linda Evans, which concluded in August 2003 after a successful 30 week, multi city, tour.

However, Collins and Evans did not get along during the production, according to Collins, who wrote about their experience on the road in her column in the U.K. "Daily Mail". Collins wrote that Evans never reciprocated party invites during "Dynasty", kept her distance from Collins during the series' run, revealed that she agreed for the producers to approach Evans for Legends against her better judgment (as Evans had never acted on stage before) and further said that Evans was too physical during their on-stage stunts during Legends. In the article, Collins called her former co-star Linda "The Lips" Evans, a reference to the latter's collagen-enhanced lips. She writes that Evans 'arrives at first rehearsal with cosmetic-surgery tape over and under her eyelids and underneath her chin. Naturally, the cast all pretend to ingore this but it's obvious she's come straight from either the face-lift shop or a car crash.... It's quite off-putting to have to look at that face, which used to be so pretty, and pretend not to notice.' Collins is initially charitable towards her 'Over these three weeks of rehearsals, Linda seems sweet and naive and very vulnerable. She's clearly worried about being onstage for the first time and has actually broken down in tears in front of Percy... I find her an acting coach she can work with after rehearsals; I give her advice on what to expect on tour... as time wears on, Linda gets better and growns in confidence - although her acting coach tells me "Her body language is not good and she has very little stage presence." To try to boost her morale, Perceey and I invite her and her best friend, Bunky, out for dinner several times, but she always declines.'

Collins described how Evans' growth in confidence onstage caused her to become over-enthusiastic and push her to the ground so vigorously that Collins required therapy on her knee for six weeks thereafter. She notes that Evans does not even ask if she is ok. Evans then throws Collins' wig at her with such force that Collins has to duck to avoid being hit directly in the face. Then Evans appropriates a 'bit of business' with a banana which Collins had developed and was raising laughs. Collins begins to become disillusioned both with the play and Evans who she observes is taking most of the directors time and 'going astray' onstage with no-one pointing out her errors to her. The two also have an ongoing disagreement about the amount of physicality in the play, with Evans keen to actually tussle with Collins, but Collins reluctant to do so. Nonetheless, a theme of the run of the play becomes Evans laying hands on Collins, as Collins notes 'typical Linda - she isn't smart enough to think of a retort so she resorts to physicality.'

Collins also perceives that Evans is receiving preferential treatment because of her inexperience. She is unreprimanded after scraping a spoon across Collins' chin while Collins is speaking and after Collins throws her wig offstage, frustrated by the hold-up and lack of laughter from the audience as Evans tries to reattach it, Evans storms offstage in the second half leaving Collins calling for her. The two develop a truce and even 'become quite pally' though Collins notes 'It's difficult to improve someone with no stage projection or presence.'

Collins finally made up her mind on Evans when Collins' agent Peter Charlesworth visited her backstage and Evans, quoting from the play, said 'you must have a strong constitution' to him. 'I always suspected she was a closet bitch' Collins noted. Despite the plays opening night success, Collins began to feel marginalised when her rewrites were ignored, one of her lines (insulting Evans) was cut and the director and Evans started coming up with unrehearsed barbs for Evans to throw at Collins onstage. Collins also feels that she is being taken sides against when she discovers stage managers' reports singling out every supposed flaw in her performance, yet no equivalent for Evans. And when Evans nearly breaks Collins' finger during an onstage stunt gone wrong and seems indifferent to Collins' pain, the relationship becomes still more acrimonious. Evans then starts mugging onstage, to Collins disbelief, and invites everyone from the cast to dinner with the exception of Collins.

The situation degenerates further when Evans begins to add unscripted lines, right at the end of the performance. The two have a backstage argument which sees Evans shout that Collins is unprofessional. Collins is asked the next week in a press conference what the difference between her and Evans is and responds 'I have three lovely houses in London, New York and the south of France, I'm happily married to a great guy, I have three wonderful children and three gorgeous grandchildren. Linda lives in Seattle with lots of horses.' The situation with the play deteriorates again when Evans complains about a bit of business which Collins has inserted and results in them having a slanging match in the director's office. By this stage, furious at her treatment by the production team, Collins has invoked a clause in her Equity contract whereby only the director of the play can critique her performance.

By the time the run has reached Cleveland Collins notes 'My knee aches. My finger throbs and has swollen to twice its size. I've got indigestion due to stress... I've gained 7lb and I'm too exhausted even to contemplate exercise. Ths experience has almost cured me of my love for live theatre.'

The article was entitled, "Why I'll Never Work With Linda Evans Again."