Morecambe

‘I am playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order!’ is a quip identified by many of us with the much loved comedian, Eric Morecambe. I was astonished to be reminded he died in 1984 but for me, regular TV retrospectives and reminiscences coalesced those intervening years – 33 of them – into something a lot shorter.
He re-emerged again last week in Morecambe, a play at the Mill Studio by Tim Whitnall that is both an homage to the comedian and TV’s so called ‘Golden Age.’ It is also a script for one actor and a two hour monologue.
Lighted Fools’ leading man, David Webb, took on the role and the responsibility.
In my judgement he began his two hour stint hesitantly, using the safety-line of reliable technique but Webb progressively gained our confidence by offering us an interpretation of the man, side-stepping an out-and-out impersonation.
The script is technically conjured to facilitate this; peppered with cameos and jokes it cements Morecambe’s humour and fixes an appropriate image for us and so a physical similarity, while helpful, is incidental. ‘Did you hear about the man who stole a calendar? He got 12 months!’
David Webb’s timing was well honed and there were frequent roars of laughter. By the interval we had settled into a comfortable, front-room, intimacy.
The storyline tells of the struggles, set-backs and successes in the showbiz lives of Morecambe and inevitably Ernie Wise too. The play wasn’t a daring ‘tell all’ and certainly didn’t let the daylight in on magic but rather adds to it, earning Webb standing applause at the end of the evening; the first I have seen at the Mill Studio.

• Type: user
• Performance Date: 19/10/2017
• Star rating: 12345