Yvonne Arnaud theatre – until 24th September 2022
Reviewed by Liberty Noke
4****
Spike tells the story of well known comedian and poet Spike Milligan and as you might expect this play is hilariously funny. Robert Wilfort is hilarious as Spike Milligan. From the moment he walks on stage he has the audience in fits of laughter.
The stage is set to look like a radio recording studio where Spike and his colleagues recorded “the goon show”. Janet, the sound technician, played by Margaret Cabourn-smith, opens the show. She proudly shows the audience the various tools she uses to make the sound effects for the radio. It is at this moment the audience begin laughing and they don’t stop throughout the play.
We later meet spike (Robert Wilfort) and his colleagues, Harry Seacombe (Jeremy Lloyd) and Peter Sellers (Patrick Warner). The trio form a hilarious comedy group making us laugh with witty jokes and silly impressions.
Spike Milligan is well known for his comedy but also for having fought in world war 2. Throughout the play we are thrown into flashbacks of Spike’s time in the army. This is executed brilliantly with sudden change of lights and costume and then suddenly we are back in a radio studio. This contrast of Spike’s light-hearted comedy with the more serious war works really well and we are able to almost understand Spike’s shellshock. The parallel is also drawn between Spike fighting in world war 2 and fighting a war with the BBC for them to pay him a fair wage and also allow him to write the goon show as he wishes- without their censorship. All of this is portrayed alongside Spike’s sense of humour. Robert Wilfort really does a fantastic job of capturing Spike’s character.
I enjoyed learning more about Spike Milligan while watching this play as well as enjoying the jokes and the performance. However what I enjoyed most about this play was listening to other audience members recall what they enjoyed about Spike’s work. Before the play and during the interval they were telling stories of how they enjoyed his comedy, sharing their favourite jokes of his and it was wonderful to hear. They watched and laughed along as if they were laughing with an old friend and that I believe is Spike’s legacy.