Up Pompeii - An Audio Revival

3 stars

One quick look around the audience and I soon realise my companion and I are easily the youngest in the room. I’m also the only non-white person there (unless we’re counting the ushers). We’re at a live radio recording of Up Pompeii, that BBC comedy classic about a ne’er-do-well slave in Ancient Rome and the caprices of the family he works for. Not heard of it before? Understandable, given that it was first released in 1969 – long before many of the readers of Felix were born.

Back in its heyday the sitcom attracted up to 12 million viewers. Much of its appeal came from the idiosyncratic comedian Frankie Howerd, who played the title role of slave Lurcio. Yes, Lurcio, as in ‘he-who-lurks’. It’s all about the cheeky faux-Latin names here, and there’s a full household of them – the bumbling master Ludicrus Sextus, his promiscuous wife Ammonia, their ridiculously naïve son Nausius and their not-so-innocent daughter Erotica.

The cast for this 50th anniversary revival is brilliant. Knowing how much the original depended on Howerd’s unique charm, producer Barnaby Eaton-Jones has gotten David Benson, known for his skills at mimicry, to impersonate him as perfectly as possible. Benson has Howerd’s frequent audience asides, curious little tics, and eccentric catchphrases down pat. As audiences, we’re admonished for laughing – ‘Shut your face!’, ‘Oh, please yourselves’ – by Lurcio, which of course only makes us laugh more. There’s comedy legend Tim Brooke-Taylor as baddie Captain Treacherus, who rampages around looking for his escaped galley slave Voluptua (played very coquettishly by Camille Coduri, of Doctor Who fame). It’s a star-studded cast and every character is played just how you would imagine them to be – the lecherous husband terrified of his wife, the teenage boy desperate to lose his virginity, the man-eating nymphomaniac…

Wait, the what? I know, I know. Fifty years on, the main problem with Up Pompeii is that the character clichés it relied so heavily on are increasingly less relevant in the modern age. Another core part of its humour is bawdiness; the script is chock full of intentionally bad puns double-entrendres, with many a nudge-and-wink at the audience. It’s very farcical and panto-y, the audience love it but for me it gets old quite quickly (pun not intended, ha-ha). There’s a sense that the cast could be doing much better comedy were they not constrained by the script; the funniest bits are when something goes wrong and they ad-lib.

It’s a fascinating window into the humour of two generations ago. By the end the audience has gotten to their (slightly arthritic) feet to give a standing ovation, and I’m clapping too. Even if it’s a bit dated, Up Pompeii still manages to draw laughs, especially with this stellar cast. I’m actually rather tempted to watch the original TV series now. It may be ancient history – but like Vesuvius, it’s still capable of causing a rumble.

The audio recording of Up Pompeii will be released on Amazon, iTunes and at spitefulpuppet.com this November.