Heaven opens to laughs

HEAVEN KNOWS I’M MISERABLE NOW, Lyceum Theatre, Oldham

A WORLD premiere by an amateur theatre company? It can happen, when the writer is one of your own.

Colin Smith returns unintentionally to the Lyceum as a performer in his own comedy about — appropriately — the afterlife.

Unintentionally because while he wrote the play, he is a replacement cast member as Jesus of Nazareth. Big sandals to fill.

“Heaven Knows...” is a surreal comedy about Andy, in his 60s, who awakes one morning to find a pretty girl in bed with him and, to his dismay, finds out it’s because he is dead and she is his “collector”.

He passes heaven’s interview and is boarded with Jesus and Hitler, who share a house and bicker like a couple of world leaders.

Then comes the big test: meetings with his three wives, all lost to tragedy. One has become a monster, the second has changed even more, and the third has pretty much discarded human feelings for a higher purpose.

It’s a play that could be disastrous — I’d say think of some of Spike Milligan’s plays, but no-one ever sees them.

But this is a likeable evening: the premise is one of a soft, all-welcoming heaven; some of the lines really are very funny, some of the set-ups even better, the incidental music is brilliantly heaven-orientated and the comedy is remarkably easy to enjoy — at times.

And it’s that last bit that gets in the way. Smith hasn’t written a full-blown comedy but a half-hearted one. It doesn’t always go for laughs and some of the time it is decidedly downbeat, which kills the momentum.

And there’s a big problem with acting quality in Nigel Marland’s production.

The Lyceum has several unfamiliar names on stage here, and some aren’t quite up to par. So some of the funny lines are mangled and the pace can be dreadfully slow.

One of the chief culprits, sadly, is leading man Kevin Grocock. His is an endearing personality, but his main technique is to hold his head when exasperated, and this character is exasperated a lot.

The show flies with the curious mix of Hitler and Jesus: Smith remains an engaging comedian, especially in robes, beard and long hair, while Damien Kavanagh’s Hitler shows the funny side of the Fuhrer — and the latter just edges ahead with jokes in a strong double act.