Review: The Last Laugh at Buxton Opera House

“…genuinely funny… shows the brilliance of the comic greats…”

The Last Laugh by Paul Hendy, Buxton Opera House

By Phil Scown

The Last Laugh is seriously funny, and also deadly serious.  It is a comedy about comedy, and being a comedian. The play showcases the work and characters of three national treasures: Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse. All three are long dead, Cooper and Morecambe dying on stage within a few weeks of each other in 1984.

The action all takes place in a fictional dressing room occupied by all three super-comedians. Act one opens with the room dimly lit, the lights on, the vanity mirror flickering, evoking a gothic ghost story. This sets up the story well – good work by lighting designer Johanna Town. The room is serviceable, but scuzzy. One wall is decorated with framed photographs of other comic masters, some easily reconisable, others not. There is a sink in the corner and poorly painted walls.  It feels like an unloved space. This is the space where artists, or comics, are expected to prepare to perform. Good set design by Lee Newby.

Tommy Cooper (Damian Williams) enters first. The physical presence is very convincing, funny from the start, before Tommy even opens his mouth. After a short routine, Tommy is joined by Bob Monkhouse (Simon Cartwright), and then Eric Morecambe (Steve Royle). All three embody their comedic characters, demonstrating their own skills and those of the three greats. All three actors are working in big shoes, easier for Damian Williams, his size giving him an advantage here. Simon Cartwright has the perfect voice to play Bob Monkhouse – close your eyes and it could be him. Obviously, closing your eyes would be less effective for Tommy Cooper, whose physical comedy was both silent and a significant part of his success. Steve Royle has the voice and mannerisms of Eric Morecambe, but somehow, in the presence of the other two, is a lesser presence. This may be in the nature of the script, and because Ernie is missing from the double-act of ‘Eric and Ernie’, rather than because of the way the role is performed by Royle.

The Last Laugh will make you laugh – it is genuinely funny – but we can’t laugh all the time. There are moments of pathos and poignancy. There are also moments where we dig into the philosophy of what it is to be funny, how a joke is created, crafted, and delivered. Physical, verbal, and double-act comedy is reflected on. This isn’t lectured to us; it falls out of the mutual respect and rivalry between the three characters on stage, in the moment. This homage shows the brilliance of the comic greats, making them all the greater.

Act two is not a continuation of the play but is a Q & A session. The cast are joined by Richard Hodder, billed as the ‘Walking Cover’ only required in the event of the death – or other unavailability – of one of the other actors. All four have anecdotes about the Three Greats. Simon Cartwright spent many years studying Bob Monkhouse, with Bob’s support, which explains the very close voice mimicry. A weakness of the second act is that it is not more of the excellent play, and that it relies heavily on questions written by the audience during the interval. If the audience were given postcards on the way in, then maybe there would have been more questions to choose from. That said, act two has many laughs, and even more jokes. We also got to learn more about the lives of the comedians past and present.

If you loved Tommy, Bob and Eric when they were alive, you’ll still love them now they’re dead – and you should see this show.  If you don’t know these comics because you weren’t alive then, you should see them in their resurrected glory.  I defy you not to laugh.

The Last Laugh plays at Buxton Opera House until Saturday 29 August. Tickets are available here.

Phil Scown has been a regular theatre-goer since his student days many years ago. Mysteries, thrillers, ghost stories, comedies and musicals are all part of his theatre diet. Phil writes short stories in a variety of genres, some of which have become screenplays. He likes to tour England, Scotland and France, nowadays by car rather than motorcycle. At other times Phil likes to cook and to drive his Caterham, though generally not at the same time.