Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2018 19:49:31 GMT
This touring production by the Apollo Theatre Company and Spike Milligan Productions aims to recreate the classic 1950s radio comedy show. The show was set up as a live recording with the cast at microphones and a sound-effects station to one side, and those of us watching as a studio audience. Three episodes were 'recorded': The Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler (of Bexhill-on-Sea), Tales of Men's Shirts, and The Phantom Head-Shaver of Brighton. It was a slightly disapppointing choice, because whilst they're all good stories the first and last have very similar plots (Seagoon investigates when a coastal town is terrorised by a villain committing a surreal crime). The middle one was one of their war 'dramas', and they finished off with a rendition of the Ying-Tong Song.
They didn't always get the voices spot on (Grytpype-Thynne and Eccles were slightly off, notably) but always immediately recognisable. The cast were very good at capturing the actors they were playing and there was plenty of mucking about, improvising and occasional corpsing, as in real life. The chap playing Spike was especially good. All in all, whilst it could never hope to match the original it was tremendous fun, with the proper air of slightly unhinged silliness. Interestingly, a substantial chunk of the audience (including me!) looked too young to remember the original show.
Cast:
Peter Sellers - Julian Howard McDowell
Spike Milligan - Colin Elmer (who is apparently better known as a Kenneth Williams impersonator!)
Harry Secombe - Clive Greenwood
Wallace Greenslade - Tom Capper
The Ray Ellington Quartet were replaced by a duo called Java Jive (Rachel Davies and Anthony Coote), who also doubled as the sound-effects artists. Max Geldray was cut out (I must admit I wasn't disappointed - I'm no fan of the harmonica!). The orchestra were replaced by recorded music.