Follow
North East Theatre Guide on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NETheatreGuide
and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NETheatreGuide
The Nicky
Nocky Noo Happiness Show
Ken Dodd
Whitley Bay Playhouse
Sunday 9th
August 2015
About
four summers ago I read Dara O’Briain’s Tickling
The English which covered his thoughts about the English as he toured
around the theatres. A secondary theme were the stories about another performer
who was also doing the circuit ahead of Dara – the living legend that is Ken
Dodd. A man who rarely finish shows on the same day that he starts them. A
performer in which you not only have to ask “have I got anything on that
night?” but also “am I busy the next day?” I saw Ken Dodd in the 70s and I was
determined to catch him again. The announcement that he was going to do a show with an early start was my chance to take the family along.
Am
I exaggerating? Well, Saturday’s show had finished at 12:30am.
So
with a fresh portion of Whitley Bay’s fish and chip inside
us we sat down for five and a half hours entertainment. At 87 years old, he is probably Britain’s most experienced
comic. The jokes kept coming and he is very funny. As an artist that is on
permanent tour he has great comic timing.
He
is accompanied by Terry Bell and Malcolm Garrett on keyboards and drums which
enables him to break into song. This helps break up the show and the audience
frequently joined in on his many memorable hits. Most often the musical
interludes were brief medleys of songs rather than whole songs.
An
octogenarian is allowed to have some senior moments and the first half had
occasions when Ken lost his thread of thought. This wasn’t helped by his
frequent deviations from the story he was telling resulting in him forgetting
which plot he was on. After three hours we had an interval and Ken came back on
with all guns blazing and he was much sharper in the second half as he proceeded
to keep the audience in the palm of his talented hand for another couple of
hours.
This
is a classic variety show and Ken had a couple of breaks for a pair of acts to
have their turn. In the first half was the hugely talented Andy Eastwood. A
multi-instrumentalist, he was able to pick up the pace whilst playing the
banjo, ukulele, violin and guitar on a variety of popular songs. Starting the
second half was Sybie Jones who did a few medleys of popular songs and
classical pieces on piano and then another couple on the flute. Sybie was not
my cup of tea to be honest. The North East is full of incredibly talented
musicians and I must have been spoilt as I found the performance well below
par.
Towards
the end Ken gave us treat with his ventriloquism as he worked with his puppet
Dicky Mint. After a very long show, he was able to keep the audience laughing.
Ken
will continue to perform around the country for the rest of the year and the
details are on his website. He is next in the north east when he visits
Darlington Civic theatre on 8th & 9th October. He is
well worth seeing. His humour is never crude, though occasionally not pc
either. He starts his second half set with a flask and a box of sandwiches and
it is worth planning how you’ll keep going during the 5+ hours.
Ken
Dodd. Hilarious. Unique. A legend.
This
review was written by Stephen Oliver the North East Theatre
Guide Preview from Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com
). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like
Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo
On The Web:
No comments:
Post a Comment