When Albert died, Queen Victoria went into mourning for the rest of her life. The idea of her beloved was something she just couldn’t or wouldn’t shake off. She even went to the length of having family photos taken in which he was included in the form of his likeness. For a significant part of the TV watching public of a certain age a similar void was left by the passing of Morecambe and Wise; for them Christmases will never be the same.
It is indeed hard to picture a contemporary comedian having the same place in the public’s affection. We like our comedians to be a little more edgy these days. Morecambe and Wise never used politicians or their own showbiz contemporaries as the butt of sharp or spiteful jokes. The ones who appeared on their shows were complicit. You could watch them without fear that the person you voted for was going to be pilloried or your favourite turn was going to be ridiculed. The programme notes tell of the fraught deliberations over the inclusion of a sketch with the two of them in bed together – until it was pointed out the Laurel and Hardy had done something similar (enough to swing the debate). They were in that sense ‘safe’, safe enough to come into our homes at peak viewing times and at Christmas when the nation sat down to watch telly as a family. Times change, celebrities invite ridicule and politicians, as a genus, have done everything in their power to lose our respect. We look back with nostalgia.
If that describes you as a TV watcher, read no further, book your ticket now before they have all gone. This is a tribute act to delight and wallow in. Being ‘safe’ was not of course the main reason for their success; that was down to learning the craft of being funny-men and having good material to work with. Like sponges that have soaked up the animating spirit of Morecambe and Wise only to let it ooze out during the performance, Ian Ashpitel (Ern) and Jonty Stephens (Eric) have given an affectionate master class in observation. The timing is perfect, the idiosyncratic twitches and mannerisms, the playing with the glasses the tilt of the body, the thrust of a one-liner are all as you remember.
From the first half which is a kind of dream-like obituary and which gives some insight into the genuine mutual affection and respect which made the partnership work, through to the re-enactment of choice parts of the act in the second we have some of their most successful sketches and gags. You’ll find the Grieg’s Piano Concerto sketch and the paper bag gag done with as much freshness as at their first outing. Ashpitel and Stephens have worked hard to retrieve the original feeling of the routines and it has clearly been a labour of love. If you share the affection or if you ever wondered what your parents were groaning on about this show is for you. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 31/10/14
Photos by Geraint Lewis
ERIC AND LITTLE ERN will be playing these venues in the StageTalk Magazine area
2nd November Bath Theatre Royal
19th November Swindon Wyvern Theatre
2nd December Malvern Festival Theatre
