Comedians, by Trevor Griffiths

Oxford Playhouse to Saturday 20th October.

"Comedy is medicine." So says Ron Moody's Eddie Waters to his six students early in the first act. They have been learning with him for three months, in preparation for performances in a northern club, which follow in Act 2. He tries to give them the attitude that comedy can educate audiences, can bring people to a point where they can see their fears more clearly and start to deal with them, can, in short, be a force for good in a troubled world. "You're not working towards laughter, you're working through laughter."

So far, so funny. But he is then forced to reveal that the judge for the evening is an old adversary with very different views, whose comic ideal is Max Bygraves and who believes in giving people exactly what they want, even if that only confirms them in their prejudices. The stage is set, as it were, for a struggle between integrity and success. The students like and admire their elderly mentor, and seem, grudgingly perhaps, to accept his views, but with several of them seeing comedy their only escape from dull lives, one is not surprised when expediency erodes their planned performances.

The exception is Gethin Price (David Tennant), a very intense and angry young man, who gives an astonishingly "alternative" performance. His integrity cannot be questioned, but an act based on anger is limited in its power to amuse. So what's the answer? What "should" an aspiring comedian do?

The post-mortem, back in the classroom, does not offer any answers. The more accomplished traitors get their rewards and shuffle off, embarrassed. We learn that Waters, once a hard-hitting young comic with a real "edge", gave up performance when he stopped finding the world funny after World War II. He is clearly a good teacher, but can do no more than hope his students fare better than he.

The performances, I assume, are excellent, as I did not once stop to think about whether they were any good or not. This, in a play all about performance, has to be a positive sign.

Comedians was first performed in 1975. Its themes of struggle and integrity have not become dated. What may seem a little old-fashioned is the way the play focuses so continuously, relentlessly even, on the one or two questions it raises. I got the feeling that a modern equivalent would have needed to be "cleverer", to link in more minor ideas, more comedic references. But Trevor Griffiths had the confidence, it seems, to decide that what he examines is important enough to stand without embellishment. This reviewer agrees entirely. The play makes you think and entertains you. Perhaps more of the former than the latter, but in an age of consumer-driven, lowest-common-denominator infotainment we should be grateful. Comedians is medicine, with more than enough sugar to keep it palatable. I suggest you go and get dosed.

Ian Threadgill 16/10/01