There’s nothing funny about comedy, ask any comedian. It’s even less funny if you are a highly educated and intelligent man who believes that what you are doing is unsatisfactory, and let’s be frank, beneath you.

This situation is demonstrated with Seriously Funny, a play by Wink Taylor and Iain Barton. There is a joke at the beginning of the play where a guy goes to the doctor complaining of being depressed, unhappy and unfulfilled. The doctor says he should go and see Grock the clown; that’ll make him feel much better. “I am Grock the clown”, the man replies.

The play explores the complex relationship between two depressed, unhappy and unfulfilled men and their association over several years, starting in the mid 1950s. Tony Hancock and Kenneth Williams first worked together on radio, with Hancock as the star and Williams as the character man. Gradually Williams became more popular and when the show transferred to television he was not invited because Hancock felt he was being upstaged. The rift grew deeper as William’s star quickly rose while Hancock’s equally quickly waned.

Wink Taylor is right in his element playing Kenneth Williams. He is an extraordinary and impressive impressionist and has the voice, mannerisms and persona off to a tee. The play is half reconstruction of sketches and half glimpses behind the scenes into the deep and complex relationship between the two men. Iain Barton certainly looks the part of Tony Hancock but I didn’t feel he quite got under the skin of the character; I feel he would have benefitted from being a bit grumpier, a bit glummer and more depressed. One thing he did share with Hancock was the fact that his partner was much stronger. I guess it was inevitable that Mr Taylor outshone him.

Their soul searching scenes were the best, some of them truly moving. You could really feel their frustration, both with themselves, each other and the world in general. It almost hurt to witness the sad and sorry plight the two men had gotten themselves into with no way out – except that Hancock did find a way out, first with a bottle of gin and then with a bottle of pills.

Messrs Taylor and Barton are to be congratulated on Seriously Funny for their writing, insight and performances. Iain Barton’s performance as Hancock was sympathetic and sensitive while Wink Taylor’s Kenneth Williams was almost as good as the real thing. ★★★☆☆ Michael Hasted