Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

No one could accuse Sex and Drugs ... of gazing at its subject through rose-tinted spectacles. The Ian Dury portrayed here isn't a particularly nice person and doesn't really even qualify as a loveable rogue. "Difficult" is one word that springs to mind. In fact, it's a bit perplexing that he can string along the women in his life for so long. He's volatile, self-indulgent and manipulative, discarding people with barely a second thought. In fact, it's a relief to see a biography that doesn't come across as a hagiography and actually takes an inventive approach to the narrative. A hyper-stylised performance onstage provides the impetus for fragmentary glimpses of Dury's past, troubled childhood and chaotic adulthood bouncing off each other in the way that memories do. Occasionally it gets a bit too frenetic (and dear God, why the day-glo titles?) but Andy Serkis is brilliant as the man himself and the music still sounds great.