Mark Williamson - Exmouth Players at the Blackmore, ‘Growing Old Very Disgracefully.'

Are the frailties and behaviours of old age really the stuff of comedy? Well clearly our TV bosses think they are from One Foot in the Grave to Last of the Summer Wine and some will remember Steptoe and Son. 

The Exmouth Players also proved the point with three packed houses revelling in the quirks of the ageing process with nearly 20 short sketches, every one followed by songs popular with those of us of a certain generation when, as my neighbour said, ‘songs were real songs’. 

Little was off limits. Why do old people make noises they didn’t before? Tummies rumble, throats gurgle, bones creak but the audience which was, shall I say, largely of senior citizen status was in good voice to adapt the old spiritual to ‘Them bones, them bones, those old bones’ culminating in the unexpected appearance of a cast member as a skeleton.  

Each of the nine cast members took part in the sketches each of which had complete resonance with the audience – the ladies at the bus stop complaining about not catching the words in a film and then remembering they hadn’t turned on their hearing aids, the two retired guys who decided they might try a yoga class and ended in decidedly uncomfortable un-yoga-like positions and the ladies bemused at the son’s new ‘puter’ which had a virus which one of them concluded must have a spider which caused the web. The road rage scenario about frustration caused by two-abreast cyclists, traffic lights on red and congestion was the only one with mild swearing but the audience didn’t seem to mind – they had all been there. 

The Graham and Gladys sketches became immediate favourites with the inevitable arguments about the thermostadt and the gas bill, choosing a holiday and which clothes to turn out for charity, Graham’s old pants was a no-no but then Gladys revealed she still had price tags on some of hers – ‘Didn’t suit me’. 

I liked the gentle humour and tenderness of Grandad-Granddaughter who started at opposite sides of the stage and listed their different likes step by step until they met affectionately in the centre. That was sweet and clever stagecraft.  

The show engaged the audience from start to finish and we were put to work with a chorus line in almost every song including, incongruously, lifting our posteriors off our seats to ‘when we sat down’ in Boney M’s classic Rivers of Babylon. To music we listened and jived to wanting to join in was instinctive – Singing the Blues, Che sara, sara and Rod Stewart’s evocative Sailing. Cliff’s The Young Ones became The Old Ones and yet the lyrics still made sense. 

But you cannot have the Muse of Comedy without the Muse of Tragedy and there was poignancy amid the frivolity. One of the sketches depicted the emptiness of that first day of retirement and Ralph McTell’s haunting Streets of London in a beautiful rendition was almost expected. And in an evening of huge enjoyment and fun there must have been many silent tears during Brian Lawless’s reading of a poem about loss of a loved one after 12 years of marriage in old age.  

In a superb cast special mention must be made of one who performed with gusto despite a brain tumour with research supported through a retiring collection. 

So over two hours after it started and to Sweet Caroline we headed home.To make a show such a success is a team effort but huge credit must be given to local singer and guitarist Brian Lawless who not only wrote and directed it but acted as compere and host. His musicianship, rapport with the audience and humour made it a night to remember for a long time.