Review: Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor and John Virgo at the Harlow Playhouse

THE FINAL frame of the 1985 World Snooker Championships was one of the great sporting stories of the eighties.

To see it discussed and in some ways re-enacted was a pleasure for everyone who attended at the Harlow Playhouse on Friday night.

The show began with John Virgo, a top ten player in his time, coaching audience members through a few trick shots whilst setting the scene for how snooker was before 1985.

Davis and Taylor then came on and played a couple of frames. They still made it look very easy, even though they made plenty of age jokes.

They discussed the famous 18-17 black ball final. Steve Davis clearly felt it was written in the stars that this was Dennis Taylor’s year.

Dennis Taylor detailed how well he had played all year, despite being terribly affected by the death of his mother, aged just 62.

Steve Davis has a wonderful dry sense of humour and is happy to be a fall guy. That may be because he is a six time world champion. Getting the first 147 maximum break on TV in the Lada Classic was a very funny story. Oh and the Spitting Image puppet story.

Dennis Taylor, now aged 72, has that glint in his eye and cheeky smile. By his own admission, how owes a debt to that final. It opened up the world to him.

The second half took the form of a Q and A session. The highlight of which was an audience member asking if Steve David remembers buying a camera from Essex Discount Store in Harlow in 1993. Believe it or not. He did.

This was a wonderful evening of nostalgia but it also looked forward to the future of the game. They were fulsome in their praise for past stars such as Alex Higgins, the present stars such as Judd Trump and the future of what is now a global sport.