Beyond the Fringe

Beyond the Fringewas a Britishcomedystagerevuewritten and performed byAlan Bennett,Peter Cook,Jonathan Miller,andDudley Moore.It debuted at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival and went on to play in London'sWest Endand then in America, both on tour and onNew York'sBroadwayin the early 1960s. Hugely successful, it is widely regarded as seminal to the "satire boom",the rise ofsatiricalcomedy in 1960s Britain.

Beyond the Fringe
On Broadway circa 1963. From left,Dudley Moore,Alan Bennett,Peter CookandJonathan Miller.
Written by	Alan Bennett Peter Cook Jonathan Miller Dudley Moore
Date premiered	22 August 1960(1960-08-22)
Place premiered	Royal Lyceum Theatre,Edinburgh
Original language	English
Genre	Revue

Peter Cook

The show

The idea forBeyond the Fringecame fromRobert Ponsonby,who was the director of theEdinburgh International Festivalfrom 1956 to 1960.Ponsonby's idea was to bring together the best parts of the revues staged by theCambridge FootlightsandThe Oxford Revueat theEdinburgh Fringein previous years. He said that the Festival should put on a late-night revue "to beat The Fringe at its own game." By 1960, the Festival was so firmly established that "it required for its health some good-humoured self-mockery."

Ponsonby's assistant,John "Johnny" Bassett,recommendedDudley Moore,who had played with Bassett in a jazz band while at university inOxford.Moore in turn recommendedAlan Bennett,who had had a hit at the Fringe a few years earlier. Bassett also choseJonathan Miller,who had been a Footlights star in 1957. Miller recommended Cook.

Bennett and Miller were already pursuing careers in academia and medicine respectively, but Cook had an agent, having written aWest Endrevue forKenneth Williams.Cook's agent negotiated a higher weekly fee for him, but by the time the agent's fee was deducted Cook actually earned less than the others from the initial run.

The majority of the sketches were by Cook and were largely based on material written for other revues. Among the entirely new material were "The End of the World", "TVPM" and "The Great Train Robbery". Cook and Moore revived some of the sketches on their later television and stage shows, most famously thetwo-hander"One Leg Too Few".Miller told the press in March 1960 that the show would" be anti-establishment, anti-capital punishment, anti-colour bar and anti-1960. But it will be all very serious stuff, sharp, bitter and to the point. "

The show's run in Edinburgh was immensely successful. Before beginning its run in the West End, the show had great success at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, but a brief run in Brighton garnered a lukewarm response. When the revue transferred to theFortune Theatrein London, opening in early May 1961,in a revised production byDonald AlberyandWilliam Donaldsonand directed byEleanor Fazan,it became a true sensation. This was helped in large part by a favourable review byKenneth Tynan.

In 1962, the show transferred to theJohn Golden Theatrein New York, with its original cast. PresidentJohn F. Kennedyattended a performance on 10 February 1963. The show continued in New York, with most of the original cast, until 1964, whenPaxton Whiteheadreplaced Miller, while the London version continued with a different cast until 1966.

Controversy

The revue was widely considered to be ahead of its time, both in its unapologetic willingness to debunk figures of authority, and by virtue of its inherently surrealistic comedic vein. Humiliation of authority was something only previously delved into inThe Goon Showand, arguably,Hancock's Half Hour,with such parliamentarians asSir Winston ChurchillandHarold Macmillancoming under special scrutiny—although the BBC were predisposed to frown upon it. Macmillan—according to Cook—was not particularly fond of the slurred caricature and charade of senile forgetfulness (marked by a failure to pronounce 'Conservative Party' coherently) handed down on him in Cook's impersonation. SinceBeyond the Fringewas not owned by the BBC, however, the quartet enjoyed relative carte blanche. The only protocol they were obliged to adhere to was that, by law, their scripts had to be sent to theLord Chamberlainfor approval prior to performance, a requirement abolished in 1968.

Most specifically, its lampooning of the British war effort in a sketch titled "The Aftermyth of War" was scorned by some war veterans for its supposed insensitivity.One British visitor to the Broadway performance was said to have stood up and shouted 'rotters!' at a sketch he found distasteful, before apparently sitting down again and enjoying the remainder of the show, while another, at the first performance in Edinburgh, allegedly stood up and declared that the 'young bounders don't know the first thing about it!' and promptly left the auditorium.In response to these negative audience reactions, theBeyond the Fringeteam saidthat they were not ridiculing the efforts of those involved in the war, but were challenging the subsequent media portrayal of them.

Influence

Beyond the Fringewas a forerunner to British television programmesThat Was the Week That Was,At Last the 1948 Show,andMonty Python's Flying Circus.

As with the established comedy revue, it was a series ofsatiricalsketches and musical pieces using a minimal set, looking at events of the day and, with Shakespeare, the past. It effectively represented the views and disappointments of the first generation of British people to grow up afterWorld War II,and gave voice to a sense of the loss of national purpose with the end of theBritish Empire.Although all of the cast contributed material, the most often quoted pieces were those by Cook, many of which had appeared before in his CambridgeFootlightsrevues. The show broke new ground with Peter Cook's impression of then Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan;on one occasion, this was performed with Macmillan in the audience, and Cook added anad libridiculing Macmillan for turning up to watch.

The show is credited with giving many other performers the courage to be satirical and more improvisational in their manner, and broke the conventions of not lampooning the Royal Family or the government of the day.Shakespeareandrama was another target of their comedy. There were also a number of musical items in the show, using Dudley Moore's music, most famously an arrangement of theColonel Bogey Marchwhich resists Moore's repeated attempts to bring it to an end.

The show prefigured theSatire Boomof the 1960s. Without it, there might not have been eitherThat Was the Week That WasorPrivate Eye,the satirical magazine which originated at the same time, that partially survived due to financial support from Peter Cook, and that served as the model for the later AmericanSpymagazine. Cook and Moore formed a comedy duo and appeared in the popular television showNot Only... But Also,and the 1967 filmBedazzled.Cook also launched his club,The Establishment,around this time. Many of the members ofMonty Pythonrecall being inspired byBeyond the Fringe.

The retrospective showBefore the Fringe,broadcast during the early years ofBBC 2,took its title from this production. It consisted of performances of material that was popular in theatrical revue before the advent ofBeyond the Fringe.

International success

The show's success was not limited to the UK. In 1962, it also opened in South Africa. Next it arrived in the US. First the Broadway Company opened on 27 October 1962, then it was performed by the National Company in 1963. Subsequently, opening on 8 October 1964, the National Touring Company took it on a nationwide tour for six months asBeyond the Fringe '65under the auspices of Alexander H. Cohen, with the cast consisting ofBob Cessna,Donald Cullen,Joel Fabiani,andJames Valentine.Slight changes were made to adapt the show for American audiences, for instance the opening number (discussing America) was retitled "Home Thoughts from Abroad".

The show was revived in slightly altered form in Los Angeles in 2000 and 2001 by Joseph Dunn's ReEstablishment Theater to critical acclaim.

Legacy

The four original members ofBeyond the Fringefeature prominently as characters in the playPete and Dud: Come Again,by Chris Bartlett andNick Awde.Appropriately, that comedy-drama had a sellout run at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in 2006, in a version starringKevin Bishopas Moore,Tom Goodman-Hillas Cook,Fergus Craigas Alan Bennett andColin Houltas Jonathan Miller. It subsequently embarked on a nationwide tour.

The creation, performance and aftermath of the show is covered in the 2004 filmNot Only But Always.

Good Evening,Roy Smiles' play about the Beyond The Fringe team was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2008, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dudley Moore.

In 2017,Beyond the Fringewas recreated for an episode of theNetflixTV seriesThe Crownin which Prime MinisterMacmillanis in attendance and singled out for abuse byPeter Cook(performed by Patrick Warner.)

Discography

• Beyond the Fringe,UK, Parlophone, audio lp, mono, 1961, PMC 1145
• Beyond the Fringe (Original Broadway Cast Recording),USA Capitol, audio lp, mono, 1962, W1792 – also stereo SW1792
• Alexander H Cohen Presents Beyond the Fringe '64,USA Capitol, audio lp, mono, 1964, W2072 – also stereo SW2072
• Complete Beyond the Fringe[Box set],EMIAudio CD, 21 October 1996, ASIN: B000006SW2
• Beyond the Fringe,Acorn Media DVD, 5 October 2005, AMP 7990,ISBN1-56938-799-0."The complete 1964 gala farewell performance"
• Beyond the Fringe Live at the Cambridge Arts Theatre,UK, EMI audio CD, 2011

See also

• 1960s portal

General bibliography

• Bennett, Alan (1994)Writing HomeISBN0-571-17388-8
• Bergan, Ronald,Beyond the Fringe... and Beyond.London, Virgin Books (1989)ISBN1-85227-175-2
• Carpenter, Humphrey (2000)That Was Satire That WasISBN0-575-06588-5
• Cook, William, ed. (2004)Goodbye AgainISBN1-84413-400-8
• Paskin, Barbra (1997)Dudley MooreISBN0-330-35322-5
• Thompson, Harry (1997)Peter CookISBN0-340-64969-0
• Wilmut, Roger,From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy, 1960–1980,London, Methuen (1980)ISBN978-0-413-46950-2

External links

• ​Beyond the Fringe​at theInternet Broadway Database
• Sound of Young America– podcast documentary aboutBeyond The Fringe