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Time Out says 

By Nina Caplan Posted: Fri Oct 23 2009

Life is tragic, human beings are balls of bitterness, complacency and rage - why then do we laugh? Trevor Griffiths's powerful 1975 play sets up the question like an old-fashioned joke: two Irishmen, a Jew, a couple of fools and a nutter walk into a classroom. They're learning to be comedians, with Eddie (Matthew Kelly), an ex-comic who 'could have been great', as mentor. Later, they perform for Bert (Keith Allen), another former name who believes in comedy as escapist entertainment in the single-minded way that Eddie believes in it as force for change. Which of them will Gethin (David Dawson) and his cohorts try to please? And who, when they troop back to the classroom after the show, will have the last laugh?

'Comedians' is much more than a highbrow 'Britain's Got Talent' 30 years before its time, although the desperation for fame rings cracked bells. Griffiths understands that racism and sexism are the default setting of the frightened - which is all of us. The only easy laughs here stem from the janitor's disgust at the whole reprehensible group; elsewhere, the need to fit in - not to step out of line - gets progressively less funny, until we reach the Jews standing in line for the gas chambers even when they knew where they were headed.

Director Sean Holmes sensibly lets his starry cast do the talking; Kelly and Dawson are particularly eye-catching. It's a shame there's no acknowledgement of a more sophisticated humour - one that doesn't conform to tired prejudice - but while this play only infrequently makes 'em laugh it certainly makes 'em think - not least about the profound question of whose line it is, anyway.

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6 comments Add a comment

We went to see it because Elton John was cancelled - but discovered a thought-provoking exploration about comedy, "set" in the 70s, with the type of humour I well remember cringing at on TV at the time. Fascinating - especially when some of the audience found the racist or sexist sets funny - a real test of an audience.

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Posted by Linda on Oct 30 2009 6:04pm

"humourous and satirical" is quoted directly from the Lyric website. I am no 'fan' of the actors, I chose to see the play because I was in the area and had no knowledge of it except what was quoted on the Lyric website i.e. "humourous and satirical". It wasn't. In addition to this it seemed very dated being far less extreme than the levels people sink to on the X-factor or Celebrity Come Dancing etc...

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Posted by Andrew on Oct 14 2009 1:14pm

Were you not aware of the play before you went to see it, did you only go because you were a fan of one of the actors. Its always a shame when people dont see the real side of a play but get caught up in celebrity worship. Actors want to be appreciated in the moment. The play was fantastic, moving, entertaining, light hearted, heavy, all the things expected from the well written script. I agree with Sarah!

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Posted by Laura on Oct 13 2009 12:18am

It's not meant to be humourous - that's the point!! I saw it last week and thought it was fantastic, some people there seemed to think they were at a stand-up night and that's not what the plays about at all. Some of the stand up parts are meant to be embarassing, you can't really think that they expect a modern audience to find prejudice funny? Surely, it asks questions about how far you would go to succeed, how easy it is to sell out and what it means to be true to yourself and your art. That's what it said to me anyway.

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Posted by Sarah on Oct 12 2009 3:07pm

I second that. Utterly unfunny, lumbering, irrelevant and embarassing. We left after the second interval.

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Posted by Thermos on Oct 9 2009 10:17pm

It is neither humourous or satirical. DULL.

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Posted by Andrew on Oct 8 2009 11:40pm

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