Spike Review
"It’s a delight from start to finish"
Venue: Richmond Theatre. Get directions.
Our Verdict:
Spike Milligan holds a lofty position in the comedy pantheon.
Often acclaimed as ‘the godfather of modern comedy’ by the likes of John Cleese, Paul Merton et al, the man himself was notoriously riddled with doubts and forever railing against the inequities of life at the bureaucratic BBC.
Ian Hislop and his writing partner Nick Newman’s hilarious new play unravels Milligan’s creation of The Goons in the early Fifties, framing each act with a display by the sound effects girl who shows just how ingenious this department had to be in the early days of technical innovation.
A giant radio dial looms large against the stage’s backdrop as we witness the early days of the Goons (originally named Crazy People, much to the group’s chagrin) as super-talented but demanding Peter Sellers, affable, peace-making Harry Secombe and the creative wizardry of Milligan begin weaving the spell that will soon hold the nation in thrall; apparently, Goon-mania bewitched Britain in the Fifties, much as the Beatles would do a decade later.
The production has the same breakneck speed and silly ingenuity of a Goon show itself and this is one of its many strengths.
A great cast brings the era vividly to life and I have to admit that Robert Mountford’s superb performance as the servile BBC executive initially castigating then eventually basking in the limelight of The Goons was an absolute treat, matched by the talent of the actors portraying The Goons: Robert Wilfort (Milligan), Jeremy Lloyds as Secombe, whose bonhomie anchors the show, and Patrick Warner’s many-voiced Sellers.
There’s a lovely scene featuring the latter when The Goons’ producer, Dennis Main-Wilson (James Mack) enters the Grafton Arms, their local watering hole and Sellers observes: “I can see you’re wearing your BBC suit.
Wilson: “You can?” Sellers: “Yes. Small checks” (cheques!) At the Grafton Arms Milligan and Secombe chew the cud and explore Milligan’s fractured relationship with his father, the aftermath of the War and the general nervous exhaustion forever threatening to topple him over the edge of sanity.
Convinced Sellers is driving him crazy and with overwork skewering his perspective Milligan breaks into Sellers’ flat one day, determined to stamp out Sellers but arrives armed only with a potato peeler. “What are you going to do?” says a bewildered Sellers, “Peel me?!”
Full of such sharp dialogue and repartee, the show fairly whizzes along although it never shies away from delving into some of the sources of Milligan’s troubles- and creative stimulus-, his wartime shell-shock, convincingly played by the capable Wilfort who captures the man’s mercurial nature well. “I’m not acting crazy. I’m the genuine article!” he tells a baffled doctor.
It’s a delight from start to finish, a nostalgic treat for those who remember The Goons, and a sparkling introduction for newer generations unfamiliar with their madcap style. As Spike himself would doubtless say, their humour is timeless, ‘Goon but not forgotten!’
Spike continues on tour this autumn. See: www.spiketheplay.co.uk for full info.
