I had the absolute pleasure of attending Newcastle's Theatre Royal yesterday for the matinee of The Last Laugh which is a play set in a dressing room of a theatre and is about the meeting of three of the greatest stars allegedly there to do a show Tommy Cooper , Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse . It is one of the best if not the best plays I have seen , the actors playing the parts are just superb the likeness , especially the Bob Monkhouse character .
Whilst you'd think it would be funny start to finish there are some telling moments of sadness and pathos , there are gasps and you can here people genuinely crying at what they hear . I would urge everyone to check their local area to see if it is on and go along . Its everything the nostalgia from the set itself to the music they play pre and post show, it will delight anyone who goes.
In a twist the play concludes after the first half [about 80 mins] the second half was a Q and A hosted by the understudy and the three actors have changed into civvies. The questions come from the audience not by shouting out but by writing their question on paper in the bar areas and placing in an upturned Fez on the bar . Sadly because of the toilet and bar queues I got nowhere near the bar and didn't get to ask a question which would have been "If the writer decided to mix it up and add a fourth character who would they like it to be" I would have opted for Doddy had they asked.
