Remember when comedy was good, solid, inoffensive fun? When you could go to a variety show and enjoy a couple of hours of great jokes, cheerful songs and slapstick mucking about on stage?
Not everyone will, of course, especially if they’re not old enough to remember those great Town Hall days of comedy. And part of the charm of this latest tour of The Last Laugh is to educate those that didn’t have the pleasure and honour of being there.
Comedy has moved on nowadays and is arguably more grown up, better crafted and slicker. But that doesn’t take anything away from the glory and brilliance of comics like Tony Hancock, Sid James, Max Miller and the three characters in this play: Bob Monkhouse, Eric Morecambe and Tommy Cooper.
These are all men of course (comedy has moved on) and all geniuses who could hold a packed theatre in the palm of their hand and guide them through a journey full of fun, frolics and humour.
In this deeply poignant play, writer Paul Hendy sets the three maestros in a seedy, shabby dressing room. It’s the perfect setting for them to talk about their loves, loathes, successes, regrets and brilliant memories of a life in comedy.
There’s joke after joke, bits of music and lovely little routines as performed by the real comics in their heydays and all brilliantly recreated here by Simon Cartwright (Monkhouse), Bob Golding (Morecambe) and Damian Williams (Cooper).
These actors have all played their respective stars before, and it shows – they have honed to perfection the voices, movements and personalities of their charges.
The script buzzes and fizzes as it keeps the conversation flowing with stories and anecdotes aplenty. There are darker moments, such as when Morecambe says he regrets putting his job before his children or Monkhouse explains how he was selfish with a previous writing partner. And Tommy Cooper tells a heart-breaking story about how he was laughed at by a group of people after he broke down in tears.
All three legends are long gone, of course, and there are references throughout the play about health, illness… and death. Cooper’s infamous 1984 demise while performing on stage, is well referenced.
Go and see The Last Laugh and you’ll die too – laughing.
The Last Laugh is at Milton Keynes Theatre, Tuesday 8th to Saturday 12th July.
