The Stage

Comedians

Published Monday 19 April 2010 at 10:40 by Andrew Liddle

Comedians is an immensely funny, thought-provoking play which, in David Thacker’s energetic revival, entertains on so many different levels. Set in the mid-seventies in Manchester, that fertile breeding ground for stand-up comics at the time, it deals with one night in the life of half a dozen wannabe funny men.

Kieran Hill (Gethin Price) in Comedians at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton Photo: Ian Tilton

They’re an odd bunch, archetypal sad clowns, being put through their paces by former professional, Eddie Waters, before going on to audition at a local club. Richard Moore gives a towering performance, in the role first played by the late great Jimmy Jewel, as the straight-faced comedy guru, constantly at pains to point out the seriousness of their calling, the absolute need to provide social commentary to extract the laugh.

First on the bill is the routinely self-deprecating Irishman Mick Connor (Brendan Foster), followed by Sammy Samuels (Sevan Stephan) with his well-worn Jewish gags. Belfast’s George McBrain (Colin Connor) seems the most naturally funny of the lot and it is no surprise when he catches the world-weary eye of talent spotter Bert Challinor (John Branwell).

A ventriloquist double act, done with bravura touches by Mark Letheren and Huw Higginson, sabotage themselves out of mutual dislike and young Mohican-sporting Gethin Price (Kieran Hill) has no chance once he decides to introduce the surreal into his act, no matter how brilliantly original it is.

All these years later, when alternative comedy has become the norm, this play now seems even more satirical, prescient and poignant than it might have been, because we know we are seeing the beginning of the end for good-natured, quick-fire patter that had its roots in musical hall.