Fertile
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2022
- Messages
- 1,627
IMO - the greatest comedy play of all time - 2 hours 45 minutes WELL SPENT. US citizens might take 10 minutes to 'get into it' but when you do, you hare hooked.
n anti-contemporary element comes from a tangible unease, even within a first night audience of sympathetic invitees, at a piece celebrating a character who is definitely an addict of alcohol and gambling, and arguably a misogynist.
To be fair, Waterhouse does include attacks on Bernard’s behaviour from some of his wives and lovers, and admirers may feel that the rise of anti-betting legislation and the NHS drinking guidelines in the three decades since the premiere make this hymn to cirrhosis and bankruptcy even more countercultural now than then.
I felt uncomfortable, especially as Bathurst maintains throughout his natural honeyed clarity that is sweet to the ear, but ducks the slurred growly reality of Bernard’s speech, just as his costume ignores – unlike Barry Humphries’ Sir Les Patterson – the likely urine- and vomit-stained consequences of the character’s lifestyle.
It’s impossible, though, to resist the set-piece anecdotes, particularly if they have punchlines like, “Put those triplets back where you found them!” and “No one accuses me of cat-doping!” However it is the pub itself that seems to me finally more worthy of preserving than the play.