The Goodies Still Rule OK
Apr. 17th, 2007 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gervase_fenSpent a splendid evening in Oxford with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
parrot_knight, who had booked tickets for the penultimate performance of "The Goodies Still Rule OK" on its regional theatre tour. "Doctor Who" was once pithily described as "The children's show which adults adore", and childhood adoration sums up my feelings exactly about "The Goodies".
"The Goodies Still Rule OK" is a distinctive blend of forensic television history (production stills from "Twice a Fortnight", Graeme and Tim using episode titles which never appeared on screen,correctly assuming that the audience will know exactly which show is being alluded to), nostalgia, cracking live comic performance, and very slick interaction with pre-recorded clips of Bill. There were some lovely new anecdotes - Germaine Greer and Prince William were memorable for their appearance in two of them - and some very old material that is still very funny indeed. Graeme's audition piece for CULES, "Pets Corner", is over forty years old, and still works a treat.
The Australasian provenance of the script was evident in some of material - a photo of the Cambridge Circus playing in a New Zealand theatre, Aussie censored clips - and there was a wealth of backstory that the show didn't begin to explore. Instead, we got to see, on a big screen for the first time, some of the most carefully constructed visual slapstick routines (most of them done in one directorial/auteur style or another) ever filmed for British TV. The sheer labour of making this stuff in the 70s on a BBC budget to schedule is to be marvelled at.
A fab evening out, and thanks again toparrot_knight for getting such good seats.
parrot_knight, who had booked tickets for the penultimate performance of "The Goodies Still Rule OK" on its regional theatre tour. "Doctor Who" was once pithily described as "The children's show which adults adore", and childhood adoration sums up my feelings exactly about "The Goodies". "The Goodies Still Rule OK" is a distinctive blend of forensic television history (production stills from "Twice a Fortnight", Graeme and Tim using episode titles which never appeared on screen,correctly assuming that the audience will know exactly which show is being alluded to), nostalgia, cracking live comic performance, and very slick interaction with pre-recorded clips of Bill. There were some lovely new anecdotes - Germaine Greer and Prince William were memorable for their appearance in two of them - and some very old material that is still very funny indeed. Graeme's audition piece for CULES, "Pets Corner", is over forty years old, and still works a treat.
The Australasian provenance of the script was evident in some of material - a photo of the Cambridge Circus playing in a New Zealand theatre, Aussie censored clips - and there was a wealth of backstory that the show didn't begin to explore. Instead, we got to see, on a big screen for the first time, some of the most carefully constructed visual slapstick routines (most of them done in one directorial/auteur style or another) ever filmed for British TV. The sheer labour of making this stuff in the 70s on a BBC budget to schedule is to be marvelled at.
A fab evening out, and thanks again to
parrot_knight for getting such good seats.
