July 10, 2008
This is a show of two halves. To start with we see Stan in oversize nightgown calling up to a giant bed he's fallen out of, pleading with Ollie to rescue him. It paints a disturbing picture of the relationship between the stars, and everything Stan says seems naive, so you feel he is taken for granted, put upon, taken for a ride by wordly Oliver Hardy.
And in the second half everything changes. No silly voices, we get a serious man with a gentle lilt to his voice, reminiscent of Anthony Hopkins. This time the balance has changed - Ollie needs Stan to make him tick, when he looks round it's to see what Stan thinks, and if Stan was prepared to look silly it's because he knew where the power lay.
It's tricky to sustain a one-man show this long, and one with very little movement in it at that. But Bob Kingdom manages it. I haven't seen his previous shows, about Dylan Thomas and Truman Capote, so I don't know if he looks and sounds so authentic as them. But I would be prepared to believe it, as Kingdom's a character actor of the first order.
The show is obviously meticulously researched, with help from Stan Laurel's daughter. It's stuffed full of facts, but these are fitted in so seamlessly they don' detract from the storytelling. And the real story is an uncomfortable question about double-acts. The fact that Stan didn't go to Ollie's funeral, and the response Ollie gave when asked Stan's whereabouts ("In my f***in' pocket") are included as well as fonder memories. But this isn't a muckraking exercise, it's just about the ups, downs and intricacies of having a close relationship.
And in the end this haunting show continues to ask us uncomfy questions about what it means to link your identity with another person's.
And in the second half everything changes. No silly voices, we get a serious man with a gentle lilt to his voice, reminiscent of Anthony Hopkins. This time the balance has changed - Ollie needs Stan to make him tick, when he looks round it's to see what Stan thinks, and if Stan was prepared to look silly it's because he knew where the power lay.
It's tricky to sustain a one-man show this long, and one with very little movement in it at that. But Bob Kingdom manages it. I haven't seen his previous shows, about Dylan Thomas and Truman Capote, so I don't know if he looks and sounds so authentic as them. But I would be prepared to believe it, as Kingdom's a character actor of the first order.
The show is obviously meticulously researched, with help from Stan Laurel's daughter. It's stuffed full of facts, but these are fitted in so seamlessly they don' detract from the storytelling. And the real story is an uncomfortable question about double-acts. The fact that Stan didn't go to Ollie's funeral, and the response Ollie gave when asked Stan's whereabouts ("In my f***in' pocket") are included as well as fonder memories. But this isn't a muckraking exercise, it's just about the ups, downs and intricacies of having a close relationship.
And in the end this haunting show continues to ask us uncomfy questions about what it means to link your identity with another person's.