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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Of Good Report
Verdict: Enigmatic life of a comedy master
London - White Bear Theatre - 9 Nov - 5 Dec 04 - 2hr-15min
Of Good Report is autobiographical light drama by and about the life of comedy writer John Antrobus. There are 2 acts about an hour each, with 15 minute interval. There's a cast of 8 (2F, 6M).
It's an exceptionally well-written, directed and acted piece, well worth seeing. And, unusually, it is drama - from one of the 20th century's greatest broadcast comedy writers.
The Second World War is over, and John Antrobus (JA) (Paul Needham) has dropped out of Sandhurst, and into comedy writing.
Of Good Report follows him to the Shepherds Bush office of Associated London Scripts, where he meets Ray Galton & Alan Simpson (Hancock's Half Hour), Spike Milligan (The Goon Show), Terry Nation (Sebastian Knapp), Dick Barry (Sebastian Knapp). The menagerie of writers is kept in order by sensible Beryl (Laura Penneycard).
JA pairs up with foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, leg-scratching communist Johnny Speight (1920-1998) (Till Death Us Do Part) (Jonathan Clarkson). The play focuses on their relationship. Johnny Speight's rigorous intellect and blinkered class-prejudice has a profound effect on JA, depicted here as a genial, weak character whose opinions carry the stamp of the last person to have walked over him.
The duo meet eccentric Major Beverley Houghton-Twist (Jon Campling), and his randy wife Judy Houghton-Twist (Jayne Denny) - with whom ever-biddable JA limps into an affair.
JA bends equally to recruitment by the BBC's resident M15 officer, George Beckett (Colin Hardy), and shamefully betrays 'the rudest man in England' - the eccentric and harmless Gilbert Harding (1907-1960) (Adam Kimmel).
If true, this is an admission of an unforgiveable act. It mirrors the treachery of those who earlier denounced their fellow artists to the McCarthy hearings in America.
Gilbert Harding's subsequent public humiliation by John Freeman on BBC TV Face To Face (18 Sep 1960), was followed quickly (16 Nov 1960) by his death. He died from a heart attack on the steps of Broadcasting House.
Peter Sellers famously satirised this notorious interview in his Mr Harris sketch, in which the victim is taunted to reveal his homosexuality (then illegal), and membership of the Communist Party.
Jon Campling creates from JA's inspired writing a remarkable and subtle Beverley Houghton-Twist - an initially comic eccentric with increasing tiers of depth.
Jonathan Clarkson artfully evokes a familiar stereotype in Johnny Speight - the Paul Foot office-socialist, selfish, single-world-view bigot; but injects sufficient world-weariness to make him entertaining.
Jayne Denny delivers a fabulous Judy Houghton-Twist, a personification of rampant lust and life, who breathes air into the almost monastic enclosure of the writers' coven.
Colin Hardy creates a remarkable George Beckett; a superbly-written part of great complexity and ambiguity, with darts of humour. This is a dark and skilful characterisation - whose private moments of thought to the spotlight exactly capture the spirit of the times: Suez; the fear of 'Reds under the beds' (a quote from that era dropped aptly into the script); Russian invasion; spies within the Establishment.
Adam Kimmel creates a striking Gilbert Harding, an enigmatic man liked and loathed equally, full of irascible wit. Famously, when asked by US Customs 'Do you plan to attempt to overthrow the Government of the United States by force?', he wrote 'Sole purpose of visit.'
When Gilbert Harding fell asleep watching one of Noel Coward's plays, snored, and later apologised, Coward replied: 'No need to apologize, my dear fellow. After all, I have never bored you one half as much as you have bored me.'
Adam Kimmel chooses to depict Gilbert Harding as a loveable intellectual oaf, which works well as it is affectionately done - and sets the character up for his destruction by JA. This is not shown - if it had been, it would have created something dramatically remarkable, and quite a different type of play.
Sebastian Knapp gives gifted portrayals of several parts, including Terry Nation & Dick Barry - sometimes both at once in a double-sided suit; a witty vignette as secretary Tessa; and chauffeur.
Laura Penneycard is sublime in several roles, catching exactly the post-war secretary with her Beryl; funny and touchingly convincing as a labrador; and superb in a cameo of a 1950s star as Shani Wallis (b 1933).
Paul Needham delivers the fictional John Antrobus (written by the real John Antrobus) with a look of wide-eyed innocence mixed with petulance, that's initially beguiling until the realisation impacts that this is a grown man. Candides don't exist in real life, and the play is emphatically set there. 'I'm not sorry', the character remarks 'I'm never sorry' - the cry throughout time of the venal and self-centred, the shallow man.
A mystery of the play is the question of its accuracy. It starts with the JA character laying down the structuralist argument - that there's no such thing as character (there are only words on a page; an audience imagines character because the parts are played by humans) in a speech to the audience.
But the characters are mainly presented as 'real people'. So, is this John Antrobus the real man? Apparently yes, as presumably historical events occur.
If so, it's a remarkably brave and honest piece of writing - because the JA depicted is weak, and ultimately treacherous. Not much of a human being, but by the evidence of the play, a remarkable writer.
This may be the very point he is seeking to underscore. It's a fascinating unknown, which adds enigma to the centre of this remarkable play.
John Antrobus directs with clarity and a compelling drive that whisks the play forward. There are exceptionally clever directorial moments - the cast as a pack of labradors, the cast enacting a babbling coffee-queue - which add sparkle.
Movement is superbly handled by Laurel Andrews and adds immeasurably to the power of staging - creating a dozen locations in the imagination using minimal props.
The script crackles with good lines: JA: 'We're a team'; Speight: 'I know we're a fucking team. What do you want? Jumpers?' / Beckett: 'I could have wished for a kinder way to tell you'; Houghton-Twist: 'No, I'd rather be poleaxed' / JA: 'I've only just realised my parents are class enemies. I haven't told them yet.'
***
John Antrobus (b 1933) has written for many of the best-known post-war comedy actors including Frankie Howerd, Bernard Braden, Stanley Unwin, Jimmy Wheeler, Thora Hird, William Hartnell, Alfie Bass, Norman Rossington, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw, Bill Fraser, Mario Fabrizi, Dick Emery, Peter Sellers, Graham Stark, Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques, Bill Fraser, Clive Dunn, David Frost, Millicent Martin, Bernard Levin, Lance Percival, William Rushton, Roy Kinnear, Bernard Levin, Lionel Jeffries, Pamela Harrington, Ellen Pollock, Wendy Craig, Roy Hudd, Arthur Mullard, Cardew Robinson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Tracy Reed, Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, John Wells, James Bolam, Richard Wilson.
His plays include works at the Royal Court; The Bed Sitting Room (with Spike Milligan); Crete & Sergeant Pepper; Where Did You Last See Your Trousers? (with Ray Galton). Currently he is completing Steptoe And Son - The Wasted Years with Ray Galton.
John Antrobus has written with many of the other most influential comedy writers, including Bernard Braden, Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Bob Monkhouse, Denis Goodwin, Sid Colin, Larry Stephens, Maurice Wiltshire, Marty Feldman, Barry Took, John Junkin, Stan Mars, Eric Sykes, Spike Milligan, Michael Billington, Ned Sherrin, Keith Waterhouse, John Braine, Willis Hall, Roy Hudd, Jack Rosenthal, Richard Ingrams, Eddie Braben, Barry Cryer, and Eric Idle, and, most famously, Johnny Speight - to whom Of Good Report is dedicated.
***
Cast Credits (alpha order): Jon Campling - Beverley Houghton-Twist. Jonathan Clarkson - Johnny Speight. Jayne Denny - Judy Houghton-Twist. Colin Hardy - George Beckett. Adam Kimmel - Gilbert Harding. Sebastian Knapp - Terry Nation, Dick Barry, Tessa. Paul Needham - John Antrobus. Laura Penneycard - Beryl, Shani Wallis.
Company Credits: Writer, Director - John Antrobus. Producer - John Antrobus in association with Michael Kingsbury. Production Assistants - Nicole Souchal, Valerie Oliver. Costume & Set Design - Peter Docherty. Assistant Designer - Belle Mundy. Lighting Design - Lucy Hansom. Sound Design - Davey Jay. Movement - Laurel Andrews. Stage Manager - John Katon. Assistant Stage Manager - Claire Langford. Hair Design - Christian Taylor. Press Relations - Dan Pursey at Mobius Industries. Playreading Workshop Organiser - Dominic Knutton. Web Design & Photography - Jon Campling. Thanks to: Catherine Drummond; Chelsea Methodist Church; Christian Taylor; Cooper/Taylor; Dermot, Celine, staff at White Bear; Maryliz Hamilton, Michael Kingsbury. White Bear Credits: Artistic Director - Michael Kingsbury.
END
John Park
reviewed Thursday 11 November 04 / White Bear Theatre
(c) Fringe Report 2004
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
