Arthur Darvill as The Who's Keith Moon

[Allyn Gibson]

This week, Radio 4 broadcast "Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon," an hour-long radio play with Darvill as Keith Moon and Sean Pertwee as Oliver Reed.

Burning Both Ends tells the story of one of the most infamous, unexpected and touching of friendships between two icons of the 1970s, Oliver Reed and Keith Moon.

In the mid-1970s, Oliver was an international movie star, and Keith was a rock n'roll legend, the drummer for rock band, The Who. Both were famous for their partying and boozing, as well as their undeniable talents. Mercurial and unpredictable, both men were at the top of their game - but the top can be a very lonely place.

Then they met, on the film set of The Who's epic rock opera, Tommy. What followed was a revelation - in each other they found a true kindred spirit, their own shadow image.

This is a story of madness and mayhem, antics and adventures, but also of love and loss - the dangerous, dazzling brilliance of two unbridled spirits connecting, but then the huge pain when one of them dies prematurely.

Recounting the electrifying "bruv-affair" between these two iconic figures, Burning Both Ends is the story of two men who found in each other a true friend, and who loved each other as fiercely as they partied...

It's available for listening for the next few days. It can also be downloaded through the BBC's Play of the Week Podcast.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Interesting. I had no idea Keith Moon and Oliver Reed were friends. I'll have to check this out, and not just for Darvill and Pertwee.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Some non-spoiler thoughts...

Burning Both Ends was laugh-out-loud funny and surprisingly touching. It's about Reed; Moon is a major presence in the play, but he's not quite a co-lead.

The performances are solid. Darvill is especially good at capturing the manic schoolboy insanity of Keith Moon, and Pertwee's Oliver Reed has a rather interesting character arc. I don't think that either actor particularly sounds like the person they are portraying, but they do quite well in inhabiting their characters and imbuing them with life. Pertwee's performance as Reed -- in particularly, his emotional arc -- really sells this piece and makes it into something extraordinary.

If you've any interest in the subject matter, it's definitely worth a listen.

And, now, a spoiler thought...

Spoiler: Text

What struck me was how much like Fight Club this was. I sussed onto that about twenty minutes in, when Moonie has recruited Oliver into his first moment of destructive mayhem -- a cherry bomb down the toilet of the cast hotel for Tommy. Reed is the Ed Norton character -- he's disenchanted with his life and his career, he's good at what he does but he doesn't feel that he is and he isn't particularly happy with the demands that his life places upon him. Then he meets Moonie, and Moonie is Tyler Durden -- the id unchecked. And that encounter profoundly changes Oliver Reed; in the company of Moonie, Reed begins to unshackle himself from the demands of friends and society, embracing a hedonistic, anarchistic lifestyle. The Fight Club parallel breaks apart in the final act when Reed and Moonie go their separate ways, but that leads to a final moment of epiphany on Reed's part about his deceased friend that struck me as rather touching.

 

[Neroon]

I'm interested just for the synchronicity of Darvill playing a member of the WHO.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ God, I hadn't even thought of that!!!!!! *smacks self

 

[Neroon]

And don't forget about the fact that Sean Pertwee played Oliver Reed in this......

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ That I did notice.

 

[diankra]

It was a very fun, sweet, play, so do catch it while you can.