The Play What I Wrote, review: Tom Hiddleston sends himself up a treat in this hilarious revival
A surprise outbreak of Hiddleston-mania occurred in Birmingham at the weekend and last night, with the opening of The Play What I Wrote, one of the daftest and most delightful stage comedy shows of the 21st century, re-minted for a new generation.
Twenty years ago, it was the cameo presence of Ralph Fiennes that galvanised the press night at Wyndham’s Theatre. This time round, Rep artistic director Sean Foley – one half of erstwhile comedy duo the Right Size, who penned and first performed this arch tribute to Morecambe and Wise – had recruited another Hollywood name to guest-star: Tom Hiddleston, who proved sweetly game for a laugh. (Other big names will appear as the run proceeds.) He suffered himself to be ignored, misnamed, attired in a hideous crinoline, required to dance like a prat and send himself up something rotten.
How so? As fans of the light-entertainment giants will recall, “the play what I wrote” was the lamentable exercise in playwriting that Wise would inflict on both Morecambe and viewers, dragooning famous faces to take part. It was such an institution that it became a who’s who of actors and celebrities seeking to flaunt a sense of humour, among them Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave and John Mills.
The fool but hardy idea of Foley and fellow Right Sizer Hamish McColl was to hold onto the notion of a play within a play as a way into their homage, and then apply a circuitous route to it. In the Olivier-winning original production, directed by Kenneth Branagh, they offered versions of themselves: a double-act on the point of splitting up, a despondent McColl obsessed with being a playwright, Foley running along with the idea but slyly signing up his comedy partner to take part in a M&W tribute in a bid to keep them together. In this fresh incarnation, the present-day double-act are played by kindred spirits but not actual comedy partners: the actor Dennis Herdman and the sketch comic Thom Tuck.
Confused? You won’t be. A longstanding fan of Eric and Ernie? You needn’t be either. The show, which was written in conjunction with the stars’ scriptwriter Eddie Braben, and has been tweaked here and there to keep it up to date, achieves the near-impossible. It weaves in all kinds of nods to the comedy legends but cleaves to the basic conceit that it’s all happening on its own terms. Sustained impersonation isn’t attempted, instead we get a flavour of what the duo embodied – the squabbling familiarity of a married couple and a nicely contrasting playfulness.
Herdman, 6ft 2in, blessed with an Eric-esque physicality and quickness, and Tuck, who possesses an Ernie-like pensiveness and dreaminess, are first seen (not lying but standing upright) in a flimsily suggested bed singing a riddling ditty. Dennis swiftly announces his impending French Revolution-set playlet – A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple. One snag is that the designated celebrity, Ian McKellen, isn’t available (he’s in panto, or the pub) and snag two is that there’s anger in the stalls from the “militant wing” of the M&W appreciation society (a multi-tasking Mitesh Soni), demanding a more overt tribute.
By the time we get to the second half, and the frisson-inducing arrival of le Hiddleston, we’ve had a welter of old-fashioned gags, verbal and visual, timed to perfection. But the best material lies in the VIP lounge area of the evening. “I did The Night Manager”, explains the bemused-acting intruder, forced to identify himself. “Really?” comes the retort. “Did his wife know?” “I am a forlorn Conte”, Hiddleston later deadpans. To which: “Hold it there, son…. Can he say that?”
This perhaps isn’t, then, the perfect family Christmas outing. But it is the ideal winter warmer for those in search of sophisticated nostalgia. “Bring me sunshine”, they sing at the end – complete with signature springing steps. They did then; they do now. You’ll laugh your head off. You may shed a little tear too.
At Birmingham Rep until Jan 1 (0121 236 4455; birmingham-rep.co.uk) then touring to Bath, Salford, Chichester, Malvern and Sheffield