Bottom is a real lark. A sort of, not aggressive, but, er, fairly lively lark.
Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall are slapstick 'music hall' - quite physical. By which I don't mean Theatre de Complicite or anything, but they throw themselves about quite a bit. But it's not sketch-based like The Fast Show, for example, so I can't say 'Oh I love the one about...' as it's just Rik and Ade being flatmates and doing a series of surreal things. But I love the way it's so surreal. And they've been doing it for probably nearing ten years.
Bottom's TV spin-off to the stage will give room for lots of extra rudeness and ludicrousness that you can't do on TV. It will translate very well as there are so many physical gags. People should go for that extra dimension. You know when you go to the theatre and see somebody f**k up? It just makes it much more fun - how they take advantage of a live audience with these very familiar characters. It's the thrill of live theatre.
I worked with Ade years ago [1984] in a film called Honest Decent And True about the advertising industry. And the other (then completely unknown) actors in it were Richard E. Grant and Gary Oldman. So Ade was the big star in a serious role. Well all right, he wasn't playing a man dying of cancer or anything, he was a sardonic piss-taking copy editor.
But Ade's not a big larker about when he's not on stage, he's quite a low-key man. We haven't worked together since, but people like us tend not to. I mean they're not going to get me in Bottom are they? Oddly enough - as I am, after all, the 'bum girl'. Oh, and I haven't slept with either of them, if that's of any interest.
