Seriously Funny - a new play about Tony Hancock and Kenneth Williams by Iain Barton and Wink Taylor

One never knows with a new play whether it will live up to hopes and expectations, this one did.

Playing someone well known can be difficult - the danger is looking like a shop mannequin rather than a Madame Tussaurd look alike

Iain Barton was great as Tony Hancock - he had the full rang of Hancockian facial expressions, voices and was always in character. Wink Taylor was so like Kenneth Williams it was uncanny.

The play is partly a run through some of the funniest sketches from Hancock's Half Hour - as Kenneth appeared in only 6 TV episodes only one of which survives as a recording, the sketches are bar one from the radio HHH.

Spoiler - skip this paragraph if you don't want to know what episodes - ok your still reading so her they are: The Alpine Holiday, the test pilot sketch,  the television set, the conjuror, Hancock in the Police, the wild man of the woods, the Ralph Reader Gang Show.

The sketches are occasionally adapted for the play with a few new jokes and some great ad libs were thrown in in response to the audience. The audience loved it, even though many probably knew the sketches by heart - seeing Wildman of the Woods acted out was just hilarious.

The play also covers the off-mike relationship between Tony and Kenneth - their initial friendship, the discussions about the nature of comedy, the discussions on philosophy and religion and the meaning of life, the falling out over the "Snide" character - Kenneth's best known voice and the one that made him a star. Hancock said Snide wasn't real life - Kenneth is the play points out that it was an exact copy of the voice of someone he met in real life !  At some points Kenneth acts as a narrator for events in Hancocks life, but this comes across as if he was talking on a chat show or to his diary not as exposition. The play recreates the desperate phone calls from Hancock to try and get Kenneth to take part in his disastrous show at the Festival Hall, Wink Taylors performance of the sadness and anger Kenneth must have felt is fantastic.  The play lasted just over 30 minutes for the first act and about 40 minutes for the second with an interval in between.

It is very sad to think both of these comedy geniuses committed suicide.  As the story goes - the Dr says to the patient go and see Groc the greatest clown ever, he will make you feel better, and the patient bursts into tears and says - but Dr, I am Groc.

The play made me think about Kenneth Williams, who rightly complained in his diaries that he had all the disadvantages of being a star but none of the money. His career is seen as being stuck in a  rut with ever worsening Carry Ons, but actually - many of the Carry On's were very good films, at least up to 1970's Carry on Henry.  Outside the Carry On's he had  a career many people would have relished - from jack-a-nory to chat show host, author and radio star - and these don't seem to be so acknowledged.

While he occasionally yearned to be given more serious parts, on stage at least Kenneth could often not resist doing the funny voices and cheap laughs.  It is a great shame the film was never made to go with his amazing performance of a diary of a madman - perhaps he would have got some better offers  listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6-xtJX5aJ8

The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers is one of the most famous ealing comedies.  It help propell a young Peter Sellers to Stardom.

As a film, it is pretty flawless - there is black comedy, menance and fine acting, a great plot a moral tale and social observation.

Recently there has been a stage version of the Ladykillers, written by Graham Lineham, best know for co-scripting the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.
The play as a fascinating insight into how to transfer a film to the stage.
Largely, Lineham has rewritten the film, partly because of the limitations of the stage and partly i feel, because that is what is needed for it to work well.

The play is fantastically performed and I would say that even though at the performamnce I saw, two of the main charecters were played by understudies - if one hadn't been told, you would never have known.

Professor Marcus was played to perfection by Peter Capaldi -
Ben Miller (of Armstong and Miller) asd Loius and James Fleet (Vicar of Dibley) as the Major, were obviously still having enormous fun playing the parts well into a long run.  The other members of the gang, Harry and One Round got loads of laughs - more than in the film.   Running gags were execlelntly incorporated into the performance.

It's Absurd - people are turning into rhinoceri

Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco is a play written in 1959.  The story is that people are shocked to see a Rhinoceros charge down the street. Soon it emerges that people are turning into Rhinoceros.  Eventually everyone has turned into a rhino apart from Berenger.  He wants to, he tries to, but he is for some reason unable to become a rhinoceros.  It is part of the Theatre of the Absurd - but it is not absurd, it is an allegory for conformity.

A film has been made and several stage plays - but I imagine that none have done it justice.  At one stage around 1963/4 plans were made to make it into a film staring the Comedian Tony Hancock as Berenger. In his prime, he would have been brilliant, perhaps even at the time, he would have been great, but for various reasons the film wasn't made.

In these days of computer generated special effects, a film version would be more fantastic than ever. 

In the lead role, someone like Jack Dee.