Review: Late Night With Terry Wogan, Soho Theatre

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Terry Wogan (Benjamin Alborough) is long dead, and you’d be forgiven again if you didn’t put ‘hosting a late night talk show in Soho’ as his first order of business upon resurrection. But logical speed bumps like these do nothing to deter Liebenspiel from their wild designs behind this cult classic of a show and after an evening with Terry it’s not hard to see why.

Late Night With Terry Wogan initially appears to be a simple chat show in which everything will be kept conventionally light and airy, with celebrity guests lounging on a couch to make lighthearted conversation with our host, Terry (taken before his time), while a backing band sits ready in the wings. But it’s the subtle and not so subtle send up of how deeply weird chat shows are that gives the production excellent comedic energy throughout. The guests are just the start, eclectic not only in their backgrounds but also in the many comedians doing their best to maintain always questionable and always entertaining impressions of their targets.

On the night, Nigella Lawson (Anna Leong Brophy) could say or do nothing that didn’t carry a hilarious sensual undercurrent, Albert Einstein (Ali Brice) almost died on-stage/backstage by way of committing to the bit and attempting to demonstrate the scientist’s scientific acumen by consuming whole OXO cubes (the densest form of nutrition you see), while Keira Knightley (Em Humble, Nikola McMurtie, Maria Telnikoff) appeared in multiple costumes and contexts that would take a full review to make complete sense of. All this was rounded out by cameos from confused and sometimes belligerent Beatles Ringo Starr (Tom Neenan) and Paul McCartney (Sam Dutton), Knightley’s bizarre agent (Kathy Maniura) and Suggs from Madness (Ben Goldsmith) who helped to lead the crowd in singing some of his greatest hits while actual madness played out behind him.

Lingering over any element too long could easily break the comedic spell cast here, and probably your sanity too, but bringing all the antics together is Alborough’s Terry who at times can be the glue keeping everything together or simply the grenade that blows it all wide open once more. The end result is an evening of barely controlled chaos that teeters on the edge of pure madness, but always balances out just enough to ensure there’s a smile on your face throughout.

Written by Ben Alborough
Presented by Liebenspiel Productions

This run has now finished