Last of the Summer Wine - The Moonbather

Synopsis

Distinguished television writer Roy Clarke has adapted Last of the Summer Wine chronicle. Your favourite characters from the series are here. Foggy, Clegg and Compo and those memorable morsels of femininity - Nora Batty and Marina.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 18 August 2009

Farce is froth. Froth with a sharp underbite. Comedy has a sweeter taste. The trouble with The Moonbather is that it is poised precariously between genres. Last of the Summer Wine is of course a much loved television sitcom, one which has survived cast changes and plot shifts with its audiences' affections maintained for the better part of four decades.

The Moonbather is written by Roy Clarke, author of the television scripts, and directed by Chris Jordan in a fashion which suggests the hybrid nature of the show. There are endless short scenes with set changes – the designer is Julie Gordfrey – and one is never quite convinced that one is in a theatre, watching a play. Are we not perhaps in a television studio? One which just happens to be in a playhouse?

That's not to criticise the individual performers, led by Timothy Kightley as Clegg, who rashly yields up the privacy of his home to further Dewhurst's (John Pennington) designs o...

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Latest User Review

Ken C. - 29 October 2009:

I would have rated this very poor, but for the well-executed stage set and audio effects. Saw this last in Bradford (playing to a v. small house-about 60-80 people)and found it a complete bore - neither proper farce nor a comic play - and flashers/streakers as a comic plot haven't been funny (if they ever were)since the 1970s. A confused script, delivered with inadequate projection, slack direction, poor pacing, Ruth Madoc mugging for all she's worth to keep it all going...sorry folks, if you were thinking of going and you're a fan of the TV series..really, DON'T BOTHER!...

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