Ying Tong – a walk with the Goons

‘Ying Tong – a walk with the Goons’ is by playwright Roy Smiles, an actor who usually plays TV detectives, but is mainly a stand-up comedian. The play is a Sydney Theatre Company Production presented by Black Swan Theatre Company in conjunction with, and showing at, His Majesty’s Theatre nightly at 7.30, with a Saturday matinee at 2.15 p.m., until 6^th December.

Still, after 50 years, a huge number of WA residents wake up at 5.30 a.m. every Friday morning to listen to ‘The Goons’ on 810 AM. For those of us who were around for the original transmissions in the 1950s, the Goons were an institution, with fans ranging from schoolchildren through to several members of the Royal Family.  Milligan once called Prince Charles ‘a grovelling bastard’, then wrote to him apologising and stating, ‘I suppose a knighthood is out of the question now’ – it was not; he was knighted two years later.

          There are two BBC stand mics, in front of a closed proscenium curtain. With a burst of Goon Show theme music, Spike Milligan (Geoff Kelso), Peter Sellers (Jonathan Biggins), Harry Secombe (David James) and announcer / straight-man Wallace Greenslade (John Hannan) enter scripts in hand. The 'applause' sign lit up, another radio show of clever, split-second comedy timing, from a very well controlled script was on the road.
         When the curtains open, it is 1960 and Spike Milligan is lying in a bed in St Luke’s Asylum. The stress of single-handedly writing most of the 120 half-hour, madcap, wacky, weekly radio comedies year after year, has caused him to have severe fits of depression, coupled with what is now known as bipolar disorder.
         Sellers (a multi-talented performer, but a somewhat obnoxious, egocentric individual) had a love/hate relationship with Spike. Filled with resentment at his colleague’s newfound fame, Milligan then sets out to kill Sellers.
         In the hospital, imagination and actuality mingle, as Milligan recalls true events involving the actors playing the Goons. Events such as the night that Sellers arrived naked, and asked if he knew of a good tailor, and then the fictitious situations of the characters Milligan created for them. Whilst recuperating he had numerous visits including his wife and a Jewish leprechaun!
          Initially, Spike thought that writing the Goon Show had caused his mental breakdown, eventually however, he realised that writing comedy had actually helped him purge his soul, hide his pain, and retain his sanity. With a total command of the English language, and a never-ending use of puns, double entendres and metaphors the scripts came alive.
          Milligan’s problems started when he served at the Italian Front during World War II, and in a very touching passage, to the tune of ‘Lili Marleen’, he describes how, when he was wounded, he lost his will to fight. Spike was Court Martialled, an experience that haunted him the rest of his life. He came out of the war determined to mock the officers and to attack them mercilessly.
The hospital, happy that Milligan has recovered – but has he? – releases him and Spike goes on to do a farewell Good Show.

It took a few minutes to become tuned to the melange of hilarity and misery, but in the second act, the whole audience were on the same wavelength. Director Richard Cottrell faithfully recreated the Goon’s susceptibility and accurately added the physical comedy to Biggins ‘Dr Strangelove’ and ‘Bluebottle’ characters.
Designer Michael Scott Mitchell’s inspired set of green tiles and archways looks like an old swimming baths, with the massive void emphasising the loneliness and isolation that Spike felt. The costumes and wigs were extremely inventive. Congratulations to the cast, who as well as being on stage for 130 minutes, each had numerous complex costume changes.
Damien Cooper’s lighting design, coupled with Jeremy Silver’s sound design and his especially composed music, gave life and excitement to the production. Even though 50 years ago all of the sound effects were ‘live’, Paul Charlier still had a massive challenge in the last act to produce the many weird sound effects. Totally magic.

We have seen Detective Clouseau hideously portrayed by Steve Martin, compared to the wonderfully subtle performance by Sellers. Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I went to see this play, portraying my heroes of five decades. Could even such a talented and experienced cast capture the intricacy of their zany fun? Even if they could, would they also be able to show the tortured minds of the two main characters, Milligan and Sellers? I need have had no doubts; we were guided gently through the pathetic minds of these genii. Jonathan Biggins was gobs mackling good as Sellers, and W.A.’s own Geoff Kelso, who has received numerous awards over three decades, was compelling as he captured Milligan's mannerisms, vocal modulations. The two straight men John Hannan and David James were solid backing.

This fast moving play is jam-packed with one-liners, but is mainly an observation of Milligan’s talent and pathetic lack of self-esteem contrasted to Sellers derogatory omnipotence.

Never heard of the Goons? Don’t worry. If you want a laugh this is for you. Enjoy quality acting and a tragic story? Again, this is for you. When half the audience gives a standing ovation, it has to be brilliant. What a magnificent team of actors working in harmony.

At a time when all we hear is doom and gloom, this is the pick me up for which we have all been waiting.