THEATRE REVIEW: The Very Best Of Tommy Cooper - St. Luke's Bombed-Out Church, Liverpool.

The Very Best of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That) is just one of the many professional theatre productions being performed as part of The Liverpool Theatre Festival, which has been organised by Bill Elms. This festival is proving to be extremely popular with theatre goers alike, since theatres were forced to close due to the pandemic.

The Very Best of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That) is being performed at St. Luke’s, which is known locally as The Bombed Out Church. It’s a beautiful graded listed building situated in the heart of Liverpool. The venue itself took all the necessary precautions to ensure all their guests felt safe and relaxed by having social restrictions in place and all the guests had their temperatures taken on arrival before entry.

Now on with the show. The production values were excellent and clearly noted with the red velvet curtains and various props utilised throughout the show. The Very Best of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That), is the follow up to the award winning, The Tommy Cooper Show, starring West End Star Daniel Taylor in the title role. Taylor is renowned widely for his hysterical portrayal of the much missed entertainer. You could tell he really enjoyed playing him on stage as much as the audience did watching him. His portrayal of Tommy Cooper was highly entertaining with gag after gag, which had the audiences in stitches of laughter throughout his performance. Based on Tommy’s stand-up act offering all the misfiring magic, trademark one-liners and dazzling wordplay, Taylor did an incredible job bringing this timeless, classic humour to life, with authenticity and perfection. Tommy’s much loved routines draw on an innocent sense of humour, which has universal appeal to people of all ages. His madcap routines definitely reasonated with all age groups and have stood the test of time.

Daniel Taylor morphed incredibly well into Tommy Cooper with his posture, mannerisms facial expressions and distinctive chuckle. Taylor’s walk and strides across the stage, Just Like Tommy Cooper did. It’s fantastic that someone still does The Tommy Cooper shows now giving new audiences the opportunity to see for themselves, what a legendary entertainer he truly was!!!

The Very Best of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That) featured so many timeless gags that we all know and love. One of my favourite gags from the night was, “This chicken is cold, well it would be, it’s been dead for two weeks.” The jokes and one-liners came thick and fast. I heard so much laughter amongst the audience, there were giggles galore. Taylor’s comedy timing and delivery of lines were flawless and brilliantly delivered with percussion and authenticity. Dressed in trademark fez, and allowing for loads of audience participation, Taylor went through anecdotes of Cooper's life too. There were also some nice songs. A good choice was Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again'; this song really resonated with the audience with the current situation and it's a song everyone knows.

On a final note, if you’re looking for an evening of entertainment, then look no further for The Very Best Of Tommy Cooper (Just Like That), is for you. The show has everything you would expect in a family show such as comedy, laughter, fun and entertainment. 

Reviewer - Mark Cooper
on - 13/9/20