LENNY
Queen's Theatre, London
IT'S been a problem for "Lenny" ever since it originally opened on Broadway in 1971. Do you get an actor to portray Lenny Bruce - the ground-breaking, taboo-challenging Fifties comedian who was constantly persecuted for foul language and blasphemy - in order to capture his tormented personality? Or do you employ a stand-up to storm through Bruce's vicious, take-no-prisoners satire, hoping that the gags will show the real mettle of the man? The 1974 film version plumped for Dustin Hoffman, with mixed results. Peter Hall's West End production goes for Eddie Izzard, with. . . interesting results. Eddie's a fine actor and clearly understands Bruce's desire to take comedy to its very edge - like Eddie, Bruce started off with crowd-pleasing impressions and easy-target gags, before moving onto thought-provoking, semi-political monologues - but sometimes he's just too close to it for comfort.
The bursts of stand-up, although related almost verbatim, are indelibly stamped with the essence of Izzard, when really you're aching to hear the ghost of genius past. Eddie brings a good-natured, floppy playfulness to the material that seems at odds with the Bruce myth. You want a Bill Hicks level of intensity, spitting blood and teeth and brimstone, and there are flashes, but too often it's simply another brilliant, but familiar, Izzard show. The play itself is pacy, with superb scenery switches, and the idea of Bruce as a deviant prophet, telling the truth in a land of hypocrisy, comes through loud and strong. But, again, you can't help feel there's so much more to the man than presented here - his relationship with his wife, for example, is glossed over - so you're left entertained, but hungry for more. Perhaps that's the point. If so, then "Lenny" is a superb primer for students of comedy.
IAN WATSON 3 1/2 out of 5
'Lenny' runs until October 16 at Queen's Theatre, London
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