Rock of Ages
Traverse Theatre

Rating: UNMISSABLE
Venue Traverse Theatre(Venue 15)
Address Cambridge Street off Lothian Rd
Reviewer Patrick Evans
edinburghguide.com

So... At the end of their gig Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden turned round and asked the audience if they'd mind staying on while the BBC recorded one of  their songs for use (probably as a background snippet) during one of their  magazine programmes and because we'd all had such a great time we all agreed. The BBC crew, fronted by the kind of self preoccupied up his own arse director even Barry Cryer couldn't write and be believed, then fannied about for the best half of what felt like a rock and roll era while Ronnie and Barry got bored. Along with the rest of us.

 Not that they didn't entertain us during what felt like The Blitz. Ronnie treated us to even more first rate musical comedy with a game of "name a
tune then tell me what style to play it in" while the BBC camera crew
posed on stage as if they were appearing in next month"s issue of Playgirl. And while Barry gave us lashings of really old one liners (all of which he wrote so fair enough) from his pantheon of the very best, the cameraman practised his Pan's People era Top of The Pops camera angles in three quarter length jeans (Designer Upper Class Ponce £40,000) and you just knew that eras were seriously clashing...

The next thing that happened was straight out of any of the classic comedy shows whose title credits have been graced by Cryer or Golden. A cameraman with a hairstyle that would embarrass David Beckham was practising zoom-into-the-guitar shots too close to Ronnie Golden's crotch for Ronnie's obvious comfort when a member of the audience shouted "show him your knob". Ronnie, pissed off to the point that he looked like he would erupt like Krakatoa, thought "good idea". unzipped his fly and gave the camera man the shot of a life time.


 

 

The director meanwhile, too occupied in preening his flowing locks to
notice what the audience were howling with laughter about, then turned round to chide the cameraman and proclaimed dead pan "you'll need a wide angle lens for that.". Comedy moments do not come any better...

 Ronnie Golden and Barry Cryer give you an electric evening of nostalgia
and good time rock and roll. The jokes are fast and furious and delivered with sledgehammer delivery and immaculate timing. As rock and roll turns fifty Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden proudly punch out that they were "around the block before it was even built". The truth is it is guys like these that built it and Ronnie Golden is a legend and Barry Cryer a comedy master. TV's top behind the scenes comedy team are in town in more ways than one.
 

> © Patrick Evans 14 August 2002 - published on EdinburghGuide.com