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An Audience With The Chuckle Brothers -
with Safire
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Tuesday 30th March 2010
Reviewed by Freddie Wilkinson
Here I go again with another review of a Chuckle
Brothers touring show, I haven’t done one for a while as it was starting look
like I was stalking them!
This year’s show followed a very different format to their past efforts such as
“Spooky Goings On” and “Star Doors” as it was billed as “An audience with”. Gone
were the scripted parodies to famous films and T.V shows, the big sets, even
bigger cast and numerous backcloths. Instead we got 90 plus minutes of classic
sketches, a fairly bare stage and a giant projection screen.
Reading the above back doesn’t really do the show justice as it makes it sound
rubbish – trust me it isn’t! For me it gave the Brothers a chance to shine as
they were doing what they do best and have done for more years than they
probably care to mention.
On with the show –
It opened with a brief video montage of the Chuckles in action followed by an
introduction to the entire cast, quite a nice personal touch I thought even if
it did feel a little like a farewell tour.
This was followed by numerous sketches such as the job interview, the wallpaper
sketch and a barber shop quartet with their older siblings the Patton Brothers.
All were comedy gold, especially with me being such a huge fan of Laurel and
Hardy, Abbott and Costello and Norman Wisdom.
Where else can a younger generation get to see routines like this? I know I have
said it before, but they really are the last of their kind.
As ever the main draw for me was to see magic, and Chuckle Brothers regulars
Safire a.k.a Stuart and Jayne Loughland certainly didn’t disappoint. Magic
performed included a devilishly deceptive production of Jayne from a previously
empty box with a target on the front. It’s not everyday you see a full size
picture shot from a blunderbuss! Or hear a reaction from the man sat a few rows
behind me of “Phwoar” I think it was for Jayne and not the blunderbuss? Then
again this is Nottingham! A full size find the lady with real lady and kicker
finish followed, and to close their up beat spot a slim line sawing in half
which floored the young audience. Only going to prove you can’t beat the
classics.
The second half opened with Safire performing their very popular UV act; how
they come up with so many fresh ideas from show to show I will never know. The
highlights had to be a 7 foot tall Shellfish Presley and a pod of lobsters
(Thanks Wiki Answers) singing the Beyonce classic “Ring on it”.
Next up was a question and answer session with the Chuckles; whilst this was a
lovely idea and brought up some great “kids thinking” questions it also lacked
direction. Maybe having the questions written and dropped in a bucket during the
interval would have been a help? At least that way they would have a little more
control on things and could point it in the right direction if the questions
aren’t coming thick and fast?
Scattered between the questions were a few video clips, and for me this was the
biggest let down of the show and my only gripe. Yes they were funny clips, but
all fairly recent and from their readily available DVD’s. What a great
opportunity missed to show off some of their older stuff from their own
archives, or the classic clip from BBC’s Good Old Days that is on You Tube
Click Here
And where were the Chucklehounds? Not an appearance or even a clip? Here is a
link to one anyhow -
Click Here
A few kids’ games followed with one young man almost stealing the show and then
to close proceedings a sing along with the entire cast, that wrapped things up
nicely.
If you enjoy comedy, slapstick, magic and illusion then I urge you to go and see
it. If you don’t like anything from that list then cheer up as you really should
try to get out more!
An audience with the Chuckle Brothers runs until May 23rd at various venues
around the U.K, and then selected dates during the summer.
More details available here
www.thechucklebrothersontour.co.uk or from
www.magic-of-safire.co.uk
Edited highlights from the show are available on YouTube
Click Here
© Freddie Wilkinson, April 2010