Bobby & Johnny

Just when you thought that the reviewing week could not get any better, “Bobby & Johnny” roll into town all the way from Milton Keynes on a self-funded tour that well . . .

Written by Louise Roche (“Girls Night” and “Frankie's Game”) and starring Jack Randle (Bobby) and Andy Wyatt, (Johnny), this was a show-stopping tale of everyday cabaret folk battling against failing careers, tormented pasts and personal demons. Not quite “the Jane MacDonald Story” but hey! This was real life with the grit left in.

Fate, in the form of a desperate attempt to land that coveted top billing, has thrown a one-time brother act back together for the first time in years. Only this time they are in competition and it seems that there is only room for one victor. If you have ever wondered about life backstage at a seedy club then Louise Roche and her cast have all the answers.

With part of the auditorium set table and chairs style we were ‘that’ audience as the two turns set about wooing us in true cabaret style. On stage Bobby was all charm and calculation, a hybrid Des O’Connor and Bob Monkhouse, gunning for the blue rinse brigade with his repertoire of ballads and sentimental bounce. Backstage his life was revealed as a mess as he blamed his brother for all his misfortunes. Johnny on the other hand was all the bad bits of Bobby Davro and Jim Davidson rolled into one, suggestively sexual and out to pull any woman wearing badly scuffed white stilettos. (Actually there was neither in the audience - so please don’t write in!).

Using the contrast between the brilliantly created stage personas and their personal despair in the dressing room the plot bounced backwards and forwards culminating in the destruction of Bobby’s cherished Mills and Boon image of their mother by the less palatable truth revealed by Johnny. How did it all end? I’m not saying. This show is on tour. Louise Roche has landed a major London agent and they are talking ‘Fringe’.

I’m talking awards. Big ones and lots of them.

Reviewed by Ashley Pearce for Newbury Weekly News

'Bobby & Johnny' was originally performed by Andy Wyatt and Jack Randle at Madcap Theatre, Wolverton, Milton Keynes 25 February 2001.  Directed by Alexandra Kent.  Lighting by Guy Jones.  Sound by Andrew Hall. 

The show subseqently toured small scale venues in the UK in 2002.  Directed by Jon Gaunt.  Lighting and sound by Guy Jones and Jason Greenaway.

2005 tour of Medium Scale venues in the UK performed by Nigel Nobes and Lloyd Morris.  ASM/understudy Andy Wyatt.  Lighting & Sound provided by David Middleton: www.sorted-technical-services.co.uk

Photo: Karen Parker