Saturday, November 23, 2019

Quarter 2 Reviews- 004 Historical Comedy - Old


004 Historical Comedy – Old 

Sean Pertwee doesn’t appear in many radio dramas, but when he does, he’s perfectly cast.  Burning Both Ends:  When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon is a wry and self-aware comedy that examines the friendship between film star Oliver Reed (Pertwee) and The Who’s drummer Keith Moon (Arthur Darvill).  Performances are fantastic.  Reed is isolated as the premiere British star of his age; never trained as an actor and veering between confident bluster and insecurity, he deplores the falseness of Hollywood.  Keith Moon, meanwhile, is simply mental, going through life as one chaotic game after another.  Together, they spell destruction and devil-may-care for the rest of the world, but for each other, it’s the ultimate bromance (if you have to employ such a wretched term.)  Tonally, it would have been hard to match this in another medium, as both characters have to frequently remind us they’re not reliable narrators.  Originally from 2011, it also starred Matthew Gravelle, Richard Nichols, Bethan Walker, and Claire Cage. 

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