CityLife

Stop Messing About: The Kenneth Williams Extravaganza (On Tour)

Robin Sebastian as Williams

Stop Messing About: The Kenneth Williams Extravaganza
The Lowry
March 17, 2010

If you're expecting this show to take an autobiographical look at the career of popular comedian Kenneth Williams then you may be disappointed. But the packed house at the Quays Theatre in The Lowry loved every minute of this tribute to the outrageously camp comedian.

What you get instead is an hilarious evocation of the waspish humour we associate with Williams in his heyday. It's presented  by the same team which previously brought Round The Horne Revisited, to The Lowry and similarly, it's also set during the recording of a couple of radio broadcasts.

This tribute to Williams, named after his famous tag line,  includes two of his long-time collaborators in Carry On co-star Joan Simms, delightfully played by India Fisher whom you may recognise from Dead Ringers and Hugh Paddick from Round The Horne played by Nigel Harrison, best known as Detective Chief Inspector Peters in A Touch of Frost.

There's a great rapport between performers and audience with hilarious sketches interspersed with brief comic songs and they've added some local references to make us feel at home.

It's written by comedy writing legends Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, the team responsible for some of our most popular sit-coms including Man About The House, Robin's Nest, Father Dear Father and George And Mildred.

But of course the success of the evening depends entirely on Robin Sebastian's first rate impersonation of Kenneth Williams and his performance is almost uncanny. He's got the walk and the soaring speech patterns to perfection.

It's packed with saucy double entendres bordering on the bawdy, although there's scarcely a swear word to be heard and it's very funny.

A must for fans of Kenneth Williams and those who fondly remember the nostalgia of the Golden Age of Radio Comedy.