recreating a comedy legend is never going to be easy.

For the most part, Cooper! is a re-enactment of the great man's stage routine. But after a very funny opening the focus moves to Cooper's dressing room, where the pace slows.

The script makes an effort to show the tragic side of Tommy Cooper - the drinking, the smoking, his apparent infidelity and health problems.

Alas, the nod to the real Tommy is not a total success. So much of the show is dedicated to the live act this soliloquy sits uneasily alongside it.

The show is at its best when recreating the magic and pratfalls of Tommy's act, but the expansion to the man beneath the fez is laboured.

Whatever faults the show has, Jerome Flynn is not one of them. Working tremendously hard, Flynn is fantastic, about as close to the real Cooper as one can get. Mannerisms, del-ivery and ad-libs are spot on.

I want to like this show, but the format is too confusing and makes you wonder about the point. Phill Tromans