REVIEW: ADOLF HITLER: MY PART IN HIS DOWNFALL Hampstead Theatre
THREE STAR RATING The absurdity of war and rigid military discipline were the perfect foil for Spike Milligan s anarchic, surreal humour. Ben Power and director Tim Carr
SPIKE MILLIGAN'S ADOLF HITLER: MY PART IN HIS DOWNFALL
Hampstead Theatre HHHII
The absurdity of war and rigid military discipline were the perfect foil for Spike Milligan's anarchic, surreal humour. Ben Power and director Tim Carroll try to corral the late comedian's chaotic, patchily brilliant war memoirs into a show with similarly uneven success.
Instead of taming the material they provide a vehicle for its freeform style as five versatile actor-musicians stage a ramshackle Ensa-type concert party with sketches, dance and Milligan's beloved jazz tunes from In The Mood to Ain't Misbehavin'.
You may also want to watch:
The hit-and-miss result veers clunkily from light to shade, from Milligan quipping cheekily at superior officers to the blink-of-an-eye death of a Royal Artillery mate.
Oh What A Lovely War and Privates on Parade handled such mood shifts better. But at its best, it is inventively staged, enjoyably zany and finally moving, as Sholto Morgan's engaging, oddly cherubic Milligan lives through the terrifying barrage that leaves him traumatised and stammering.
Most Read
- 1 Petrol station forecourts closed and long queues in north London
- 2 Hampstead house ravaged by early morning blaze
- 3 Man charged with Haringey murder and victim named
- 4 Haverstock Hill petrol station 'assault' arrest as motorists queue for fuel
- 5 'It's madness': Queues block north London roads amid petrol shortage
- 6 Artist who captures North London's 'special light'
- 7 New Jewish Fringe festival comes to Golders Green
- 8 'We've been forgotten': Homeless Muswell Hill family demand action
- 9 Man jailed for rape of young girl in north London 40 years ago
- 10 How did a double-decker bus crash straight into a Crouch End house?
It's less biting satire than Milligan's personal odyssey, deploying his razor sharp, eccentric mind against the tedium and confusion of war. You get a sense of these experiences crystallising and forging the future godfather of modern comedy - and of the barrack-room camaraderie and love of jazz that helped Milligan and his 'D Battery Quartet' endure.
Until August 22.
Bridget Galton
1
