A Record Or An OBE
The title of this smart, funny play by Benjamin McKenzie was taken from the Lyrics to the opening credits of the 70’s British comedy The Goodies penned by the hairy, tubby musical one called Bill Oddie, who has in fact had hit records and more recently been presented with an OBE. McKenzie’s play however was about the other two, Tim Brooke-Taylor (Rob Lloyd) and Graeme Garden (Ben McKenzie). I found it interesting that although Bill was not in the play, he came across as the protagonist because it was from his actions that the drama sprang. A Record or an OBE was set in 1975 at the height of The Goodies fame, after the Goodies had sung Funky Gibbon on Top of the Pops and it seems that it’s gone to Bill’s head; he has left the TV show to live out his dream to become a real rock star.
The show opened with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden staring in shock and horror out at the audience. You almost expected Tim to turn into a teapot, but this was a fiction about the performers not their TV personas. In the TV show if one went off to become a megalomaniac the other two could cunningly entice them into coming home with say, a nice cup of tea, but in Ben’s play, Tim and Graeme had to work what to do next. Should they break up or carry on, keep making the Goodies without Bill or work on a different project together?
McKenzie could have written this play about any talented comedy Trio, The Goons (they get a mention), Tripod, Doug Anthony Allstars, perhaps a certain comedy trio called ‘the Found Objects’ who went on to become the even more successful Lano and Woodley. Or he could have made up the characters from scratch, because the play explored pretty universal themes, it was essentially a play about friendship, grief, fear, survival and power dynamics in relationships. So even if you didn’t know who the Goodies were, you could still appreciate the story. It was also quite funny and received a lot of hearty laughs from the audience especially at one point during a brainstorming session between the two characters, McKenzie was able to capture the inspired crazy plot of a Goodies episode brilliantly.
The beauty of having chosen characters as well known as Bill, Tim & Graeme for the play meant that McKenzie could write a short play without having to go into too much backstory. The audience already knows most of it and even better, already cares about the people involved. A lot of the fun of this play came from wondering where the author was going to take our beloved Goodies next because, face it, this play is going to attract a lot of Goodies fans for its audience. But do they want to see what’s behind the curtain? I must say I found an angry bitter Tim a bit hard to take having met the gentle, genial man himself but that would have been his current public face. Who knows what the young, ambitious performer was really like behind closed doors in 1975?
Ben McKenzie as Graeme and Rob Lloyd as Tim were both excellent, assured, comic actors and carried the two handed play well. They didn’t try to mimic the real people and, as working comedians and writers themselves, wouldn’t have had to look too far for inspiration for their characters. The only fault I could find with the show was its venue. The Vault was small and cramped with some pretty bad sight lines, though luckily it was not a very visual show. It was a simply staged play in 2 halves with a surprise middle bit. At only half an hour long (like the Goodies’ TV show) it is dense and succinct. I found it to be a very confident and polished comic play for a Debut preview performance and would recommend it highly.
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