Chasing Bono review: Ponderous and insubstantial play doesn't make the most of fruitful material

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, those master mirth-makers behind such classics as Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads and Porridge, are two of this country’s funniest comedy writers.

This only exacerbates the problem with their new play: it’s simply not amusing, managing instead to be an unhelpful combination of the ponderous and the insubstantial. This is a sad squandering of fruitful source material, namely the memoir I was Bono’s Doppelganger by Daily Telegraph pop critic Neil McCormick, which tells of his from-Dublin-schooldays friendship/rivalry with a certain Paul Hewson and his band U2.

A highly implausible kidnap situation provides a creaky old framing device, prompting Neil (Niall McNamee) to recount key moments in his long and ultimately fruitless quest for pop stardom in the band he formed with his brother Ivan (Dónal Finn). This material begs for the greater insight and analysis of drama, as Neil becomes increasingly corroded by his failure, while his saint-like friend Bono (Shane O’Regan) scales ever greater heights.

Line by line, Gordon Anderson’s production is heavy-going stuff. Would Irish Neil, addressing another Irish man, really need to start a sentence, “As the Catholic church outlaws condoms….”? The original songs by the brothers McCormick are played with gusto; I’m surprised the tuneful Sleepwalking didn’t make it bigger. Yet this show is sleepwalking to mediocrity.

Until Jan 19 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)