Going, going, Goon
Milligan tribute to close early
Ying Tong, the West End show about Spike Milligan’s grapple with insanity, is to close early.
The play, subtitled A Walk With The Goons, is to close on March 19 – two months earlier than planned.
The latest stage recreation of a bygone comedian attracted generally positive reviews for its recreation of the anarchic spirit of the Goon Show.
The Guardian hailed it as "extremely funny", The Financial Times called it “hilarious and deeply moving” and The Daily Mail said: “There's fun and pathos hearing his gags re-cracked.”
But audiences were less convinced, and now the show – which started life at the West Yorkshire Playhouse – is closing at New Ambassadors Theatre after just five weeks.
Ying Tong is the first in a planned trilogy about dead comedians by playwright Ray Smiles, with plays about Tony Hancock (The Lad Himself) and Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce (The Bitter End) in the pipeline.
Chortle’s review of Ying Tong >>
To buy tickets >>
Published: 1 Mar 2005
