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Billed as the Charlie Williams Story, this is the story of the first black comedian to become a household name in the UK. Sadly, caught between being a This is Your Life style biography and an attempt to view 1970s comedy through a 2020s lens, it fails to deliver.
We see him visited by someone from Buckingham Palace vetting names of contenders for honours in 1999 and wants to know if there is anything in Williams’ life and career that might embarrass the Queen.
Chief amongst those concerns is that his material played to racial stereotypes rather than challenged them. This leads Williams to give an account of his life, from his time in the coal mines, through being a professional footballer and a comedian whose rise to fame eventually stalled through an unsuccessful stint as a quiz show host.
This life story gets too much of a straight retelling, with little insight into how Williams felt about his experiences, other than his dismay at being refused a visa to work as a football coach in Australia because of his colour.
It also fails to question 1970s values. The fact that Williams told jokes about Asians, Indians, Irish and Jews as well as black people is offered in defence, but the absence of jokes about white English people is an unchallenged elephant in the room. His influence on comedians such as Lenny Henry and Gary Wilmot is noted, but also isn’t explored in any depth.
Tony Marshall gives a strong performance as Williams but the most telling line in the play is when he declares that you can’t judge the 1970s by the present day. This is what the scriptwriter, Chris England, seems to want to do, using Williams as a prop for a limited analysis of 1970s humour and politics that doesn’t do him justice.
Pleasance Dome, to 29 August (not 15th)
Have to disagree Andy. As someone who was a teenager at the time of The Comedians, I thought the play got the narrative spot on. The 2 actors were outstanding in our groups opinion.
We attended the first showing 8th August.