Chasing Bono
Soho Theatre
Reviewed – 11th December 2018
★★★★
“A highly entertaining tale that already feels like classic comedy”
The legendary writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who are behind such TV comedy classics as The Likely Lads, Porridge, and, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, are now trying their hand at the stage. Similar to their biggest hit, The Commitments, Chasing Bono is an Irish play with music looking at the ups and downs of being in a band. Taking inspiration from Neil McCormick’s memoirs, I Was Bono’s Doppelgänger, which back in 2011 was turned into the film Killing Bono, Clement and La Frenais manage to keep its heart and hilarity for this new adaption.
McCormick (here played by Niall McNamee) wants to become a musical legend, known by all. So does his good mate Paul (Shane O’Regan). Both decide to start up bands, making these two pals become (friendly) musical rivals. Paul tries poaching Neil’s guitar-playing brother Ivan (Dónal Finn) for his crew, but Neil persuades his younger sibling they’re better off sticking together. The public love a family affair. It doesn’t take long before Paul’s band takes off after changing his name to Bono, and the band’s name to U2, and the rest, you can say, is history. Whilst U2 are playing Wembley Stadium, Neil and Ivan are stuck playing pubs and ‘titty bars’. The McCormick brothers’ musical luck goes from bad to worse as their confidence in reaching stardom begins to wane.
Clement and La Frenais’ sharp, witty, dialogue is the driving force to the production. Some of their one-liners are pure comedy gold, erupting laughter from the audience on numerous occasions. You can tell you’re in the safe hands of comedy writing pros. It feels clean and polished, but sometimes too much so. There is a sense of lacking a final ingredient, possibly in the plot line, which is stopping this from being a brilliant production. What that special little extra is, I can’t quite put my finger on it.
The realistic country cottage kitchen set plays multiple different locations throughout the story, without ever really changing. The highlight is the high-level wooden beams of the cottage giving way to present the recording studio/radio booth/record company office that looms above the stage and audience with ominous arrogance.
The music that’s incorporated into Chasing Bono, performed by McNamee and Finn both on guitar and vocals, are the original compositions by the real McCormick brothers from their various bands such as Yeah!Yeah! and Shook Up! The songs are all fairly mediocre. It’s understandable why they never quite made it in the music biz. Regardless of song quality, the actors do give credible renditions of them.
McNamee embodies both fearlessness and fragility as the protagonist Neil, with the story moving back and forth from the past to present. Denis Conway and Ciarán Dowd as notorious Dublin gangster Danny Machin and his henchman Plugger are quite the Laurel and Hardy double act. O’Regan’s uncanny resemblance to Bono is a sight to see. The small amount of singing that he does proves vocally he isn’t a complete mimic, but this doesn’t detract from his excellent portrayal.
A highly entertaining tale that already feels like classic comedy – nothing ground-breaking, you know what you’re getting, but by God is it enjoyable.
Reviewed by Phoebe Cole
Photography by Helen Maybanks
Chasing Bono
Soho Theatre until 19th January
Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Francesco de Carlo: Comfort Zone | ★★★★ | May 2018
Great British Mysteries | ★★★½ | May 2018
Sarah Kendall: One-Seventeen | ★★★★ | May 2018
Sugar Baby | ★★★★ | May 2018
Flesh & Bone | ★★★★★ | July 2018
There but for the Grace of God (Go I) | ★★★★ | August 2018
Fabric | ★★★★ | September 2018
The Political History of Smack and Crack | ★★★★ | September 2018
Pickle Jar | ★★★★★ | October 2018
Cuckoo | ★★★ | November 2018
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