David Gardner

AN actor who lost one of his legs in the 7/7 bombings is preparing to play the lead role in a Shakespeare production that has stirred memories of his late father.

David Gardner will appear in the Hampstead Players production of King Lear in Hampstead Parish Church in Church Row.

A few months before the attacks in 2007, Mr Gardner had flown to South Africa with his brother to visit his sick father, a doctor, whose Alzheimer’s condition had worsened.

Mr Gardner, who was injured in the bombing of Edgware Road tube station in July 2005, said: “At Heathrow I had bought a Penguin paperback of King Lear and read it intensely on the flight. We arrived just hours after Dad died, two days short of his 83rd birthday.

“Ever since, I have wanted to tackle this great tragedy with the Hampstead Players, though nervous of my fitness for it.”

It is the first time Mr Gardner has directed and acted in a production since the Players’ of Julius Caesar in 2005.

He said: “It is a challenging play to undertake but a popular one this year, with a number of professional productions, including one with our ex-MP Glenda Jackson.”

Former MP Glenda Jackson as Lear

He added that he had lost a bit of weight during the production and was looking forward to shaving off his “dodgy beard” after the play’s run ends.

The play runs from November 24-26 with a matinee on the Saturday.