The Play What I Wrote: a ‘daft and delightful’ celebration of Morecambe & Wise
This stage comedy show is the ‘ideal winter warmer’

“Here’s a perfect fit for the panto slot,” said Clive Davis in The Times. Twenty years after it took the West End by storm, Hamish McColl and Sean Foley’s celebration of Morecambe & Wise –“full of all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order” – is packing them in at the Birmingham Rep.
The first-half set-up is that a rackety double act – played here by Dennis Herdman and Thom Tuck – land a gig as a Morecambe & Wise tribute show. The second half, in which a different famous guest star appears each night, is then a riotous pastiche of a Morecambe & Wise Christmas special, and includes material by Eddie Braben, the comedy writer who worked with the duo for 14 years.
This revival is directed by Foley himself, and he is a master of farce, said Mark Lawson in The Guardian. “At startling but comprehensible speed, wordplay, sight gags and slapstick constantly compete to top each other”; and silly stunts – involving trick arms and legs, joke bread loaves and botched magic tricks – trigger an “avalanche of laughs” that is as “energising as going to the gym after a spell of vegetating”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It might not be traditional Christmas fare, but The Play What I Wrote – which will tour to Bath, Salford, Chichester, Malvern and Sheffield – is the “perfect therapeutic humour for these seriously unfunny times”.
You don’t have to be a Morecambe & Wise fan to enjoy this “ace” show, said Quentin Letts in The Sunday Times. My daughter-in-law, who is Chinese and unfamiliar with the duo, had a “wonderful night”.
Herdman and Tuck are both excellent, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. The former is “blessed with an Eric-esque physicality and quickness”; the latter an “Ernie-like pensiveness and dreaminess”. Mitesh Soni does a fine job in assorted roles. And the opening-night guest star, Tom Hiddleston, gamely “sent himself up”.
This “ideal winter warmer” is one of the “daftest and most delightful stage comedy shows of the 21st century, re-minted for a new generation”. You will “laugh your head off. You may shed a little tear too.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Birmingham Rep (birmingham-rep.co.uk). Until 1 January, then touring
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful north
The Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashion
In the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fans
The Week Recommends The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
-
The Paper: new show, same 'warmth and goofiness'
The Week Recommends This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
-
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painter
The Week Recommends The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
-
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti Gatwa
The Week Recommends ‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe