THE PLAY WHAT I WROTE. To 23 April.
Tour
THE PLAY WHAT I WROTE
by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and, of course, Eddie Braben
Tour to 23 April
Runs 1 hr 50 mins one interval
Review Hazel Brown 1 February 2005 at Lighthouse, Poole
Relive the joys of the comedy duo that was Morecombe and Wise.If you enjoyed the gentle, but anarchic comedy of Morecombe and Wise, particularly their television series, then this is the show for you. There certainly wasn't a member of the audience in Poole that was under the age of 35 and I know it would have made little or no sense to my 20 year old daughters but M & W fans to a fault, the audience laughed and clapped with glee, as each scene unrolled and some of the best visual and verbal gags from 20th century television were recalled to life on stage.
The premise of the plot is that a failing comedy duo, who used to do M & W impressions, are on the point of breaking up. Kim has written a play, A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple, which he wants to have mounted on stage. Clive, however, wants them to continue with their double act, so he promises to find a star for the play and hopes to trick Kim into continuing their partnership. With the help of Andy Williams, a large and hairy man, dressed up as Daryl Hannah, the mayhem begins. Many of the great visual gags are reprised, to the delight of the audience the paper bag, the hand through the curtain, a huge baguette wielded with excellent comic timing; the bed (both horizontal and vertical) makes an appearance, as well as the lit staircase for a dance routine.
There is, of course, a real star waiting in the wings to make a guest appearance. The night I saw the show, it was Honor Blackman, and lots of wonderful corpsing, jokes about Pussy Galore and terrible syntax set the mood for a wonderful production of the play what Kim wrote. Kim Wall captures the reluctance of Wise, Clive Hayward the gleeful incompetence of Morecombe and Andy Williams is a magnificent, game foil for them both.
The evening brings the veritable sunshine of Eddie Braben's scripts and the duo's performance back with a laugh, buts leaves a bitter sweet feeling of regret that we have lost two of the funniest comedians and some of the gentle, quintessentially British humour exemplified by Morecombe and Wise. See it and relive the joys of past Christmases when their show was required viewing.
Cast:
Clive Hayward, Kim Wall, Andy Williams
Director: Michael Gyngell
Original director: Kenneth Branagh
Designer: Alice Power
Lighting: Tim Mitchell
Songs: Gary Yershon
Musical arrangements: Steve Parry
Choreographers: Irving Davies, Michael King
2005-02-09 09:50:54