Quarter 1 Reviews- 012 Contemporary Comedy – Old

012 Contemporary Comedy – Old 

Some very diverse offerings here, starting with the 1962 satirical pantomime, The Demon King (by JB Priestley and adapted by Michael and Mollie Hardwick). In Bruddersford in Yorkshire, pantomimes are traditional but have never been high art.  The Demon King in this year’s (1962) performance of Jack and Jill is washed-up has-been Mr Ireton (who has an extraordinary speaking and singing voice, as played by Ian Wallace) who is a sot and doesn’t have a good word to say about the town.  When curtain comes up on Boxing Day, Mr Ireton is nowhere to be found.  At last he shows up—a bit too much in character.  Like the supernatural visitors to the theatres in The Master and Margarita, the Demon King shakes up the performance, appearing with the smell of brimstone and not bothering to use such contrivances as trap doors.  He causes actresses to dry up, sing better than they ever have, (including past-it Dulcie, played by Marjorie Westbury), bats to appear on stage, dancers to dance like they never have before, and pantomime dames to get the best laughter they’ve ever gotten.  Oh, and the Demon King speaks in verse.  When the news comes that Ireton is actually in hospital in York, the real “Demon King” disappears in a puff of smoke, causing the stage impresario to exclaim that he’s signing the pledge—“tonight!”  I found it very amusing, with lovely music, supplied, in another twist, by pre-Doctor Who Ron Grainer and Christopher Whelen.  It was directed by Charles Lefeaux and also starred Sheila Grant, George Merritt, Frederick Treves, David Valor, Godfrey Kenton, John Baddeley, Derek Wells. 

Sharing nothing with the above other than its performance aspect, Ian D Mortfort Is:  Unbelievable by Tom Binns and Richard Turner was unlike anything I had ever heard before.  Tom Binns performs the role of Ian D Montfort, Geordie medium, all the while sending up such acts in a very entertaining way.  It’s all recorded live in front of a studio audience.  Excellent stuff.

Hailing from back in 1992, a standout for me was the final episode of On the Hour, the biting satire from Armando Iannucci.  In this episode, the people of Essex were terrorized by a bluebottle, and Alan Partridge was his usual oafish self.  Perhaps most interesting to me was the OB being disrupted and the radio station having to drop in on the 24/7 perpetual radio drama studio to fill the gap.  Also, by the end, On the Hour went 24/7 itself, thus obliterating the Radio 4 schedule in its entirety.  

I heard two episodes of Stockport, So Good They Named It Once, and I would have gladly heard the whole series.  I have to admit how incredibly refreshing it was to hear Stockport accents on BBC Radio 4 (Extra).  It was quite funny, and the characters quite endearing, though the pace of life in 1999 was slower.  Jason, the criminally underused Dominic Monaghan, is at the heart of this sitcom. His father is a cab driver with delusions of grandeur; his grandmother is a bigoted old bag; his girlfriend dumps him at the first opportunity for a shallow Italian exchange student; his older brother doesn’t go to school but practices in a band that never plays gigs.  Written by Jim Poyser and Damian Lanigan, it was directed by Neil Mossey and co-starred Jason Done, Stefan Escreet, John McArdle, Emma Clarke, Beverley Callard, and Jo-Anne Knowles.

Quarter 1 Reviews- 011 Contemporary Comedy - New

011 Contemporary Comedy – New

All the comedy is Christmas-y this time around.  

Sophie’s Lights was a charming and quite amusing comedy about Sophie, a Jewish girl who goes to a mixed school but attends special Jewish school on the weekend.  She annoys her Jewish teacher, Mrs Abrams (Christine Cox), because she believes in Santa Claus (she’s only six).  Her mother Rachel (Fariah Falade) is fairly secular but agreed with dad Alan (William Ashe) that she would be brought up Jewish.  Alan talks Sophie into “logically” discounting the ability of Santa Claus to exist, so Rachel throws him out in the rain and cold on Christmas Eve.  Will there be a Christmas miracle, a Hanukkah miracle, or a little of both?  Sophie’s Lights was written by Adam Usden and directed by Charlotte Riches.

The Dead Ringers Christmas Special 2017 Part 2 made me laugh out loud.  Donald Trump has hit the nuclear button, so the world has half an hour left.  Jeremy Corbyn wants to try to negotiate with the nuclear war-heads, while Penelope Wilton reads a primer on what will happen to everyone in the event of a nuclear holocaust.  Michael Gove gets the nuclear bunker all to himself, and it turns out David Davies is actually responsible for the impending nuclear annihilation.  The funniest part was The Archers parody.  Dead Ringers was written by Tom Jamieson, Nev Fountain, Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Max Davis, and Jack Bernhardt.  It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson, Duncan Wisbey and was directed by Bill Dane.  

Not actually Christmas-y but remaining true to the theme, Dead Ringers:  An Alien Has Landed was very, very amusing.  It served as an effective primer to everything in contemporary British life, from Theresa May to Jeremy Corbyn to Michael Gove to Big Brother to Jeremy Kyle.  It made me laugh a lot.  An alien lands on Earth and seems to be content to stay in the UK.  He is adored at first, then he reaches saturation point and the British public turns on him.  Dead Ringers was written by Tom Jamieson, Nev Fountain, Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, and Laurence Howarth and was directed by Bill Dare.

2016 Quarter 2 Review 4/13

004 Historical Comedy – Old 

Radio 4 Extra recently broadcast a few old plays by Steve Walker, the first one of which, The Dolphinarium, was so completely out there I just couldn’t handle it.  I was glad, however, that I gave Habakkuk of Ice a try.  Originally from 2001, although still extremely weird, it came together a bit better.  However, one can see a pattern developing:  Steve Walker seems to really be into ice.  Tim McInnerny was cast against type as a brilliant, eccentric Jewish autodidact with worse-than-average social skills.  Championed by Lord Mountbatten, this boffin was working for the war effort in the early 1940s by spinning off bonkers-but-brilliant idea after idea.  He came up with one to create a fleet of ice troop carriers (the ice mixed with wood pulp to made greater strength against enemy bombardment) called habakkuks (after something in the Talmud).  Aided by his beleaguered graphologist and secretary—who is annoyed by his habit of putting all the furniture on the ceiling and pulling it down by string when needed—and a sympathetic Winston Churchill, the boffin’s idea makes it to hypothetical testing phases in Canada.  However, his inability to work with military types takes him off the project, and eventually money and patience run out, and the war is won without the use of these fantastical creations.  It also starred Dermot Crowley, Melanie Hudson, Chris Emmett, Emmet Hove, Kerry Shale, William Hope, Sean Baker, and Jenny Stoller, and was directed by Andy Jordan.