Fifties classic revived for comedy festival.
This October, the Old Joint Stock Theatre Company in association with Birmingham Comedy Festival will be transforming the Old Joint Stock Theatre into a 1950s radio station and staging two episodes of The Goon Show.
Seagoon, Eccles, Bluebottle, Major Bloodnok and Minnie amongst over favourites will become embroiled in the case of the heinous Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton), and tell a terrifying tale of family greed and murder in (pause for dramatic effect), The Canal! Complete with a live jazz band for those quirky mambo interludes, and a foli artist creating sound effects live on stage, this is a rare chance to see two classic scripts by Spike Milligan performed on stage.
The Goon Show’s comedy legends, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Seacombe, re-wrote the rules of British comedy during the 1950s, attracting radio audiences of nearly two million and paving the way for Monty Python, Eddie Izzard, Steve Coogan and The Mighty Boosh to name a few. Ever popular, the episodes can still be heard on Radio 4 today.
TiCkets £10. Box Office: 0121 200 0946 www.oldjointstocktheatre.co.uk
Am I in the minority by thinking The Goons were just not funny…but were just smug enough to believe they were
They, The Goons, were funny within the confines of their own time. The Ying Tong Song was groundbreaking in combining humorous asides, set to music, with high opera and murder by gunshot. I laughed then, I wouldn’t now – although I have got the original 45 record.