DEAD FUNNY. To 8 June.

York/Bolton

DEAD FUNNY
by Terry Johnson

Theatre Royal To 27 April 2002
7.30 Mat 25 2.30pm
then Bolton Octagon Theatre 16 May-8 June 2002
Mon-Sat 7.30 Mat 29 May, 8 June 2pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval

TICKETS 01904 623568 (York)
01204 520661(Bolton)
Review Timothy Ramsden 20 April

A good revival, if not dead good, of a play well worth a night out.The problem with so-so productions is, you can see the right things are being done. But the effort shows like visible underwear. And so, so it is with this trans-Pennine revival of Terry Johnson's cool-headed dissection of humour.

36 year old gynaecologist Richard doesn't match his prowess at hysterectomies with a non-medical sense of the hysterical. He and his, mostly male, acquaintances in the Dead Funny Society may know favourite comics' routines by heart, but heart is what's gone out of his relationship with his verging on 40 wife Eleanor. Nor does he see the humour in keeping a skeleton and opened demo-model thorax displayed in the – wait for it – living-room where his marriage is falling apart.

Then, just as the homework from their relationship counsellor means Eleanor's about to make contact with his indifferent member, enter the camp neighbour, and DFS member Brian. Complications ensue, involving Lisa, sole female in the DFS, and husband Nick.

Not that Johnson is after fully-fledged farce. There's a bleak desperation to these sad characters' solemn wake for the newly-deceased Benny Hill. When the custard-pies start flying it's no laughing matter - serious jealousy and revenge send the flans hitting the fans.

Damian Cruden's production scores some decent hits. Sherry Baines makes clear Eleanor's intelligence and wit; though not in the club, she's the only one who'd recognise humour if it flew at her unembalmed by tradition. But her strong vein of downbeat irony defuses some of the fury which is near to maddening her.

Robin Hooper's Brian has to be camp - the gay closet out of which he steps was made of clear glass, and we must have been able to see through it. But the manner's overdone. Being camp is one thing; setting up as a one-man Butlins is excessive. And Fiona Wass's Lisa lacks definition of the character's limitations, clouding especially her response to Brian's sexuality.

Thankfully, Banks and Lane come through with a strong, accurate punch - their unhappiness only deepening once they've donned their ludicrous Benny Hill tribute costumes, to leave them looking like miserable clowns in life's unhappy parade.

Eleanor: Sherry Baines
Richard: John Banks
Brian: Robin Hooper
Nick: Nicholas Lane
Lisa: Fiona Wass

Director: Damian Cruden
Designer: Nigel Hook
Lighting: James A. Farncombe
Sound: Matt Savage
Fight director: Richard Ryan

2002-04-22 00:19:42