"WHAT do you think of it so far?" asked Bob Golding at one point and we, the audience, dutifully shouted back in true Morecambe and Wise fashion "Rubbish". We were lying.

Writer Tim Whitnall's Oliver award-winning play – and this is emphatically a play not a tribute act – Morecambe is pure genius, capturing the comic spirit of Eric Morecambe with a piece of theatre that's at once daring and funny.

Although Morecambe and Wise's comedy was silly and sunny, the play doesn't skirt around the heart attacks that finally killed Eric Morecambe. It's not afraid to be serious and on occasion poignant. Sometimes it combines the two as in the darkly comic sequence in which the funny man, in the middle of a heart attack, picks up a man off the street to show him the way to the hospital.

The story follows the man born Eric Bartholomew from childhood and his early attempts to make people laugh, through teaming up with Ernie Wise (represented by a small puppet), their days on variety bills and first stumbling steps in television, through to the time their BBC Christmas show was watched by an amazing 28 million people, half the population.

Whey-hey! All the duo's catchphrases are present and correct, as are references to their most famous gags and sketches. Even the paper bag trick makes an appearance. What's clever is the way Whitnall works them into what's essentially a theatrical biopic. Under Paul Hendy's direction, they come and go with a natural ease that both evokes a glow of nostalgia and adds to the dramatic narrative.

None of this would work without an actor equal to being Eric Morecambe in this one-man show. Bob Golding fits the bill perfectly. He has the vocal and physical mannerisms down to a T, but more than that he makes Morecambe a flesh-and-blood character. This is no mere impersonation but an award-worthy character study that delves into the heart and soul of Morecambe.

He gives enough of a flavour of Eric Morecambe, both physically and vocally, to suggest him, rather than a slavish impersonation. Golding's performance has won the approval of Eric's son Gary Morecambe, the touring production's associate producer, which is perhaps the highest praise you could ask for.

Morecambe the show is certainly a fitting tribute to Morecambe the funny man.

Morecambe, The Man What Brought Us Sunshine, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus Saturday matinee, 2.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk