He’s not going to sell much ice cream going at that speed is he?
1999, the Nuffield Hospital, Wexham – Ernie Wise is in his
hospital bed following heart bypass surgery, shortly before his death. The
doctor looks very familiar and turns out to be his 15 years dead comedy partner
Eric Morecambe.
Has he come to take Ernie with him or is it all Ernie’s
memories? It doesn’t really matter, but in either case the scenario offers an opportunity
for the pair to re-enact a sequence of scenes taken from their television shows.
Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel (as Eric and Ern
respectively) first impersonated the duo for their own amusement but over time
the idea formed for a full length show, which they have devised together, and
the result is directed here by Owen Lewis. They certainly manage to look the
part, and they get the vocal and physical characterisations and mannerisms spot
on. Only the tiniest occasional slip of an accent reminds you once or twice that
you aren’t actually watching Morecambe and Wise on the stage.
Simply staged, with the hospital bed to one side and a sofa and sideboard to the other, all is set for reliving many of
the texts from the original shows, both in the living room and in some of the
famous bedroom scenes. “Are you going to read your paper or are you going to
annoy me?” asks Ern. “I can do both!” comes the perky reply and the banter goes
on almost seamlessly, with the links between sketches smoothing over the edits and making it seem more like a long reminiscence than a series of extracts from the TV scripts. It’s safe to say that you
really can’t see the join.
Toward the close of the first act, the famous red velvet
tabs come down and they prepare to go back out on stage one more time before
heading off to a great variety theatre in the sky.
Act two is entirely on the forestage in front of the curtain,
and it is easy to believe that we are in the theatre for a genuine Morecambe and
Wise show. More of their vintage humour follows with Eric disappearing
behind the billowing velvet now and then - as he did - and at the end they skip
off the stage to the familiar strains of “Bring Me Sunshine”.
The show did indeed bring me sunshine, along with a few
fluffy clouds of faint sadness for a brand of sharp, yet gentle humour that
seems to have been almost lost from our stages and screens. It was great to see
a surprising number of young people in the house, clearly enjoying the material
along with those of us old enough to have seen it in its first incarnation.
Fans old and new of Morecambe and Wise will love this
affectionate tribute, which plays one more evening at the Epstein before
continuing its tour in Bromley and Ipswich next, followed by dates in over 30
more venues. For further details, visit http://www.ericandlittleern.com
 |
| Jonty Stephens and Ian Ashpitel - Photo (c) Steve Ullathorne |
No comments:
Post a Comment