Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Morecambe brought back to life
Neil Cooper
Four stars
Now here's a funny one. Take three comedians, 1970s household names the lot of them, and all used to dying a death on the variety circuit during their early years. Then, like some celestial impresario, put them on the same bill, and see who comes out laughing.
Such is the premise behind Paul Hendy's play, revived for a UK tour following a west end run after being a hit of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Hendy's conceit is to put Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Morecambe in a grotty dressing room where the wall is adorned by photographs of other greats of the comedy world no longer with us.
Over the next eighty minutes, professional competition develops into a philosophical dissection of what people laugh at. This is punctuated by some well-honed gags that sees each man go some way to reveal the personal drive behind their acts, be it Cooper's ramshackle magic show, Morecambe's double act with Ernie Wise, or Monkhouse the comic scholar turned game show host.
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Damian Williams' Cooper is clad in Y-fronts and trademark fez before being joined by Simon Cartwright as Monkhouse and Bob Golding as Morecambe. The physical and vocal impressions are pitch perfect as each actor embodies their respective subject, with Hendy's own production going beyond tribute act to reveal something deeper.
Ethan Lewis Maltby's minimalist piano score highlights the poignancy of three very different artists who were locked in a particular time. Designer Lee Newby's meticulously observed dressing room becomes an existential limbo where each man awaits their final call before stepping out for the ultimate finale.
The end result falls somewhere between Jean Paul Sartre's play, Huis Clois, and a 1970s hammy horror film compendium where people are thrown together seemingly at random. The punchline regarding the trio's fate may be easy to spot a mile off, but by bringing a certain kind of comedy back to life it makes for the ultimate big night out. Just like that.
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