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London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Curmudgeon: Dr Johnson (Simon Munnery) lays into his Scottish hosts as he takes part in a chat show to plug his books
In 1773, Dr Samuel Johnson and his biographer James Boswell took a trip around Scotland and wrote journals about their experiences. Writer and comedian Stewart Lee, co-creator of Jerry Springer: The Opera, has imagined a scenario in which their books are being relaunched today and they appear at the Traverse to plug them.
Boswell (Miles Jupp), in 18th-century garb, gives the audience high fives and delivers a chatshow-style monologue before introducing Johnson (Simon Munnery). The famous curmudgeon proceeds to insult his Scottish hosts and humiliate his faithful friend, and the whole thing rapidly descends into farce.
This play is chock-full of witty lines, some verbatim from the journals, but it's difficult to know where Johnson and Boswell's words end and Lee's begin. Scotland and Scotchmen (as Johnson insists on calling them) come in for an awful guying - "I had four-and-a-half thousand words in my dictionary and 'devolution' wasn't one of them" is the least of his barbs.
Munnery and Jupp are superb and director Owen Lewis moves things along apace (one suspects he more than earned his fee in marshalling three comics used to working on the hoof) and the onstage drummer and piper add more jollity. This is Fringe theatre at its silly, clever, fun-filled best.
• Until 26 Aug (0131 228 1404; traverse.co.uk).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
