Reviews

Morecambe (Salford)

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26 October 2010

Tribute acts don’t usually get showered with honours – Morecambe’s latest is this year’s Olivier for Best Entertainment – but then this is not so much a tribute as a complete subjugation to the subject.

Though common sense tells you that it’s really actor Bob Golding up on stage and not a somehow resurrected Eric Morecambe, for much of the time it’s difficult to believe, not just because Golding does look uncannily like the man he pays homage to but also because the essential spirit of mischievous mirth is also there in this journey into the life of the best-loved British comedian of all time.

Parts of the background storytelling are too frenetic at times but above all it’s a heart-melting portrait of a born entertainer and perfectionist.

A quarter of a century after the great funny man collapsed and died backstage after one of the performances of his life, he is very nearly, spookily, still with us, thanks not just to those slightly fuzzy TV recordings but now also to Golding’s uncanny recreation.

The nightly standing ovations are well deserved.

– Alan Hulme