So, we went to see Surviving Spike on Saturday night.
I’ll just say first of all that I knew who Spike Milligan was, but I never really knew much about him or the Goons as I was too young at the time when it was in its prime and wouldn’t have understood the humour. I probably wouldn’t have gone to see the show had it not been for Michael acting in the role.
I could see there were alot of people at the show who were fan’s of Spike Milligan and related to parts of the show more than I could have, but I don’t think that mattered.
So anyway, 4 of us went to see the show (should have been 6 but a friend who was coming is in hospital, so he and his partner of course couldn’t make it).
It’s the first time I have been to a theatre and I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’m more used to going to concerts and I think I had in my mind that the theatre would be of a similar size (silly me), so we ended up getting tickets for the second row, and when we walked into the theatre, I was not only surprised that it was (of course) smaller than what I was expecting, but also HOW CLOSE we were to the stage! Heck! I probably would have opted for a few rows back had I known so as not to feel so quite exposed. Anyway, moving on…
I really didn’t know what to expect from the show itself, I knew it would be about Spike Milligans life from Norma Farnes perspective, but still wasn’t sure what the contents of the show would be about. I will also admit that it’s not usually my kind of thing to go to a show like that, so you could say I was going into it raw.
About Spike
For someone who knew next to nothing about Spike Milligan I would have to say I wasn’t surprised or shocked by the character he was. I guess there were a few things about him that I found odd, but I guess it must be down to Michael that he played the part in such a way that whether you knew anything about Spike or not, you ‘got’ what he was about.
I would imagine on the surface, your not really supposed to like Spikes character that much, but if you can see past the surface, you can actually forgive him for his bad mood swings and mouthy manner, because really he was quite a sensitive fella.
I think because Norma stood up to him and wasn’t ’star struck’ by him, it allowed a better perspective of the real Spike rather than someone who either loved or hated him. I would have to say though, I think Norma did well to put up with him. There must have been something about him which impressed her for her to stick by him for the years that she did.
It was funny when Norma first went for the job, Spikes way of finding out if she was taking the job was to send a telegram with “Are you staying or not” written on it – makes me laugh now. He was obviously a sensitive fella, but wasn’t very good at expressing himself in such ways.
He came across to me as one of those people who likes to close off his feelings from people and would have to go round the houses to say something without having to ’say something’ and hope that when he was ’saying something’ it would be understood. I can imagine that it would have been mentally exhausting at times being a part of Spike Milligans life .
To sum my thoughts of Spike Milligan, I would have to say, clever, sensitive, compassionate, stupid, grumpy and mad, but overall, I liked him.
The Cast
Michael
I have to say that it is credit to Michael that I got the character of Spike Milligan. Of course it is also to do with how well the story is written, but it takes a good actor to bring those words and characters alive and mean something to an audience. It wasn’t hard to get past that it was Michael playing the role, especially with the long hair (well, long for him) and beard, but no, I was learning about Spike Milligan that night.
He did him really well and portrayed his character brilliantly in my opinion. I say this because I was able to understand what the character was about, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that had it not been for someone playing the role as it should be played.
The amount of lines that had to be learnt, and not to mess up on that, not even once was amazing! I was gobsmacked. A live 2hr show with all that dialogue and not mess up once, blimey! I remember as a kid landing the leading roll in a play at school, I used to lay in my bed night after night with a torch (cos I was supposed to be sleeping) learning my lines, so knew what it took for me to figure it all out in my head to remember everything, but that was nothing compared to how much had to be learnt for this show! I was well impressed.
I imagined in one part of the show Spike Milligan looking down at Michael playing him and probably having a little laugh about it. I’m sure he did him proud.
Jill Halfpenny
I would have to say the same for Jill as I have for Michael. I had no idea who Norma Farnes was but got a glimpse of her through Jill. What a character this lady was. She really was dedicated to Spike, I think she looked after him with the same kind of love and patience a woman would for her child.
Jill is a cracking actress and she acted every detail. There wasn’t a moment when the focus was on someone else that she still wasn’t acting herself. Hard to explain what I mean by that. Jill was narrator as well as actress, so would respond to sections of the show as a part of the audience rather as one of the characters, so she was switching from one part of her character to the other. You could see she is a very talented actress.
The only thing that I wondered was that because the story was based on the book written by Norma, I wasn’t sure if Spike was made out to be the baddie and Norma made out to be the goodie. But then I figured, well, it is about Spike, so I guess Norma told the parts that gives people a real taste of who Spike was, and who would know better than her? I would say that Spike was very lucky to have a lady like Norma in his life. She stuck by him through thick and thin and was there for him right til the end. Bless her and well done to Jill for playing her so well.
Support Actors
I feel really naff saying ‘Support Actors’, but I don’t know their names. The whole show consisted of 4 actors! You wouldn’t have thought it to watch the play because it was just so good and how only 4 actors could pull it off like that was really impressive.
But full credit to the lady and gentleman who acted in the supporting roles. You could tell they were no strangers to the stage and added greatly to the show itself. I’m just sorry I don’t know their names.
Summary
All 4 of us really enjoyed the show. It seemed my friends and my chap knew more about Spike Milligan than I did. One of my mates with me is a black woman, and when we sat down she jokingly said to me, if he starts saying stuff about black people, Im outta here – I looked at her and said what? She just laughed. Then in the second half, Spike did say something about black folk, and I thought arrhh, she told me after the show that Spike was a bit like that (or something) but she wasn’t at all bothered or offended.
We all loved the play and glad we made the effort to go, it was well worth it.
There is still a week to go, so if you are able, get your tickets booked!
This was a great review, the theatre is nice but it gave you a shock.
Not to worry though at least you had a good time, and yes Michael did it justice.
The other roles were played by Robin Harvey Edwards and Elizabeth Price.
an acting masterclass by barrymore!