Stop Messing About
I've pretty much been a lifelong Kenneth Williams fan.
My earliest TV memories are of belly laughing until I was nearly sick on a Sunday afternoon in the living room with my folks as the staff of W.C. Boggs & Son took Brighton by storm on a boozy day trip led by their boss (Williams) in Carry On At Your Convenience.
His memoirs - The Kenneth Williams Diaries - are also well worth a look, if only for the verbal booting he gives his co-stars at the time including Sid James.
During his Carry On period, Williams was also a regular voice on the mighty BBC Radio. Stop Messing About was his first as a main name, and one in which he recruited co-star Joan Sims and colleague Hugh Paddick.
This stage recreation of the show at the New Theatre is a great snapshot of the time, featuring original sketches and a simple set including retro flashing applause cues.
That it's original scripting means that some of the jokes are extremely dated, but Robin Sebastian as Williams manages to capture the great man's persona and nasal drawl without hamming it up too much. And he's nailed the laugh which is all that matters, right?
If you're hoping for the outrageous campness of Carry On this might not be for you at first glance, but you'll appreciate a portal to a more innocent time when jokes about the milkman and 'her next door' took equal placing to great talent and commitment to a craft.
At the New Theatre until Saturday. Book tickets here.
