Eh Up, Me Old Flowers

Following on from our previous show "Admiral" Eh Up Me Old Flowers (accidentally at least from our point of view) continued the theme of racism in the 1960's and beyond.

When I saw this in the brochure I was surprised to see there was a show about Charlie Williams as I doubt if anyone under the age of 40 would have heard of him. Looking at the age of the audience members around me I think this was pretty much born out. Written by Chris England of "An Evening With Gary Lineker" fame, (along with Arthur Smith, review to follow,) this tells the story of Williams who became the UK's first major black television star. And what a story it is. I won't reveal much here as I want you to find out yourself by going to Pleasance and seeing it.

This is a two-hander featuring a strong performance from Tony Marshall in the main role, most people will know him as Noel in "Casualty", although I had been impressed with him recently as Fielding in "Jitney" at the Old Vic. Marshall is well supported by Nick Read in a variety of roles, most tellingly as an interviewer who prompts Williams into his life story.

As usual there are a lot of shows at the festival based on real-life people, "Eh Up, Me Old Flowers" is a class above the rest due to the quality of the writing, acting and the production values which give it an emotional intensity I wasn't expecting and I was genuinely moved by the end.

It really doesn't matter if you don't know about Charlie Williams as it will give you an understanding of the light entertainment world in the 1970s. It wasn't all "Morecambe And Wise" and "It's Cliff".

This show fully deserved a place in the spreadsheet and is highly recommended.