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Reader rating
Dir: Michale Kingsbury.
Cast: Robin Sebastian, Nigel Harrison, Emma Atkins, Charles Armstrong
Description: A nostalgic look at the career of Kenneth Williams and his Carry On co-stars through music and sketches. Written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke.
Trains: Tube: Leicester Square, Embankment 
Phone: 0844847 2475
Website: www.leicestersquaretheatre.com
Infamy, they’ve all got it in for me: Robin Sebastian as Kenneth Williams
Nostalgia is not what it was. This is a jocular aside made in this affectionate recreation of a long-lost Kenneth Williams radio series and it acts as a critique of the stage production too. The team that had a shamelessly backwards-looking hit with Round The Horne...Revisited is trying to pull off the same trick here but the results are a little less magical.
There are certainly laughs to be had thanks to plenty of old one-liners by Brian Cooke and the late Johnnie Mortimer, yet there is not the same misty-eyed frisson. Perhaps because this vehicle for Williams is not held in quite the same esteem as Round The Horne. Nor are there the same memorable characters. Gay bantering twosome Julian and Sandy no longer dominate, Rambling Syd Rumpo is gone.
It is a pity, because Robin Sebastian is never less than brilliant as Williams. Not quite as acidic as the original but he can certainly deliver a nostril-flared line. “Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me”, swiped from Carry On Cleo, gets two huge laughs. Elsewhere however, the script feels thin, trading on wince-inducing puns, particularly in an overlong Gone With The Wind spoof, Back With The Bicarbonate.
The supporting cast offer good value as they potter around the on‑stage radio studio. Charles Armstrong plays a straight bat as suave announcer Douglas Smith. Jeremy Paxman lookalike Nigel Harrison is a persuasive Hugh Paddick. Only petite Emma Atkins strikes the wrong chord. She plays Carry On stalwart Joan Sims, though could more easily pass for Barbara Windsor.
Director Michael Kingsbury keeps things simple, maybe too simple. This show is effectively two radio broadcasts and little else. What this is crying out for is some back story. Kenneth Williams had a fascinatingly tortured psyche, as anyone who saw Michael Sheen tackle him in the BBC drama Fantabulosa will know. Stop Messing About reminds us how funny Williams was. It would be nice if it also hinted at what made him tick.
Until 24 May (not tonight. 0844 847 2475, www.stopmessingabout.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I think they made a mistake by calling it a "Kenneth Williams Extravaganza" because the format that worked so well for the Round the Horne revisited show just comes across as simple and bland here. Whilst Robin Sebastian can be very funny as Kenneth I have seen much better impersonations before, particularly cabaret performer Jonathan Hellyer. Really Emma Atkins was NOTHING like Joan Sims at all, she didn’t make any effort at a similar voice or characterisation. The first act is not that funny, they push the term “gentle comedy” perhaps a bit too far but things improve in the second half of the show that had me chuckling away on a few occasions.
- Lee Wilson, London
