Stop Messing About *** TNT
Subtitled “A Kenneth Williams Extravaganza” this nostalgic show conjures up the atmosphere of the 1970 BBC recording studio where Williams and his fellow radio artists pushed the boundaries of innuendo and saucy suggestion with some decidedly smutty results. With his distinctive strangulated whine and nasal sneer, Williams’ voice was immediately recognisable, and Robin Sebastian does a fine job of reproducing not only his vocal quirks but also the camp mannerisms and scornful facial expressions which became familiar to a huge audience courtesy of two decades of Carry On films.
Comedy writers Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer (whose successful Round the Horne ... Revisited used the same format a few years ago) have plundered the original sketches to create what is, in effect, nothing more than two back-to-back radio shows. The four performers (Williams is joined by Emma Atkins’ Joan Sims, Nigel Harrison’s Hugh Paddick and Charles Armstrong as straight man Douglas Smith) approach the old-fashioned microphones, scripts in hand, as the upstage sound effects man is kept busy twiddling his knobs and 'Applause' signs light up overhead.
With spoof renditions of Gone With The Wind and 'The Dirty Half Dozen' (aka 'The Smutty Six') and comic characters such as 90-year-old Hanging Judge Sir Inigo Parchmutter, how much you’ll enjoy the show depends on what tickles your funny bone. But the jokes – and double entendres – come tumbling at such relentless speed that, by the end of the evening, you’re almost certain to have had at least a few laughs.
Leicester Square Theatre, Leicester Pl, WC2H 7BX (0844 847 2475; stopmessingabout.com) Tube: Leicester Square. Until 24 May. £15-£35
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