Crowd-pleasing and Still Game ... even in afterlife
Still Game: The Final Farewell SSE Hydro, Glasgow ★★★✩✩
AN unlikely mix of bunnets and banter, revolving around the exploits of grumpy old widowers Jack and Victor and set among the high rises, bookies and pub of a fictitious Glasgow suburb, Still Game became the TV sitcom the nation took to its heart.
And when it came time to bid farewell to the much-loved Craiglang gang as the final episode aired earlier this year, viewers were glued to their screens to see how they would make their final exit.
The answer was an understated cliffhanger as the curmudgeonly pensioners played by Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan disappeared into the mists of Ben Lomond, wistfully reflecting that the Still Game regulars (and their fans) would know where they had gone.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Craiglang mainstays faded to black to the sound of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right. Only Gavin Mitchell’s now greyhaired Boabby the barman was left behind to deliver a teasing last line to camera: ‘Look who it isnae!’
So what really happened to the pair and their pals, fans wanted to know? Did they really go gentle into that good night?
The announcement of a new, final live stage show promised to throw some light on their fate. Now that it is here... the cat is well and truly out of the bag. Or should that be the lid off the coffin?
‘We’re deid,’ says Jack deadpan, as the duo, along with Isa (Jane McCarry), Navid (Sanjeev Kohli), tightfisted Tam (Mark Cox) and Winston (Paul Riley) enjoy a ghostly get-together in The Clansman. There is even a video take of their skeletons on the Munro, and a musical number, We’re Deid, to stamp home the message.
The gang are advised by Bruce Morton’s creepy Mr Sheathing that they are all trapped in limbo as one of their party still remains, until Boabby’s death (an ending too rude to print here) becomes the catalyst for a hit and miss cavalcade of comedy, catch phrases, panto brio and barnstorming song and dance routines.
As the arena spectacular dovetails from the familiar to the souped-up supernatural, we follow the cast, who give it laldy throughout, on their way to heaven – or in some cases the highway to hell.
The TV finale was a subtle and touching end to a journey of more than two decades, from the first appearance on stage of our bunneted hardy perennials at the 1997 Edinburgh Fringe to appearances in Chewin’ The Fat before starring in nine seasons of the nation’s favourite sitcom. But this live arena show, playing to sellout crowds of more than 10,000 a night, was always going to require packing a bigger punch than just recreating the small screen shenanigans beloved by so many.
FOR the most part, this delve into the afterlife offers up a coach party crowd-pleasing treat that is even bigger and brasher than the last stage performance, 2017’s Bon Voyage – even if some of the cruder elements of the show stretch the broad-brushstrokes comedy to near-breaking point.
An appearance by Jimmy Savile in hell is a fleeting ‘gonnae no dae that’ deadweight irrelevance, and the second half of the production easily outstrips the first.
Just as the flimsy plot allows the characters to contemplate their lives, the show directed by Michael Hines provides a vehicle for Kiernan and Hemphill to look back over their careers. Chief among the show’s pleasures is the shoehorning of Chewin’ The Fat favourites into proceedings, as well as some cameos that are too good to ruin here for those who have still to see the show.
Suffice it to say that if the appearance of Methadone Mick as Jesus drew appreciative gasps from the audience, the star turn appearance by God raised the roof. That said, some of the trips down memory lane might be lost on younger Still Game fans.
Elsewhere, the show is peppered with a string of homages, from the Wizard of Oz to the hit movie Ghost, and even a nod to the seafood eating scene from Tom Jones (albeit the seduction scene here between Isa and Navid involves a roll and sausage).
Sophisticated The Final Farewell ain’t, but the crowd lapped it up. Enjoy the long goodbye, folks... and thanks for the memories.