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YOU will find Andy Capp generally lounging on his yellow sofa—sometimes just napping or with a beer glass close at hand. Or you will find Andy Capp with a pool cue in his hand and a spring in his step walking towards the pub. Or you will find Andy at the race course cheering his horse who, if he is not sitting down in the race, is woefully behind. And you will find Flo, Andy’s wife, waiting up at night for Andy to come back home from the pub with another lame excuse. Or you will find Flo, exhausted after a long day’s work, trying to resist Andy’s borrowing a quid or two from her. Or you will find both Andy and Flo at the marriage counsellor, either bickering or not listening to the counsellor or generally making his task tougher than it is. Such is the portrait of dysfunctional marriage drawn by Roger Kettle, Roger Mahoney and Richard Sunderland and Andy is portrayed as such a louse or a cad but a loveable one at that – that you can not but cheer when Andy survives another useless day. And often the predicaments of Andy Capp are hilarious. Andy mourning at the end of a glass of beer such as the passing of a long lost friend –Andy refusing to budge even to collect his glass of beer at the other end of the sofa – it is too much of an effort. Or Andy on the sports field – playing either rugby, soccer or cricket and being penalised for shouting at the referee or his opponents. You never see Andy’s eyes. They are always covered with a cap. I suppose if you saw them they would give the game away And you always see Flo facing up to Andy and life with a no-nonsense resilience. There is Andy’s
mother-in-law with whom Andy does not see eye to eye and the Vicar who
is always looking for a contribution for the church unsuccessfully and
his neighbour Chalky a partner in crime. And, of course, the
long-suffering bartender and pretty young thing who always gets a drink
without asking for one. The authors enliven this dead beat world by
changing the set pieces again and again with new twists in the tail. And
the result is hilarious. |
