THEGAYUK

Tag: Three Star Comedy Theatre Review

The latest Three Star Comedy Theatre Review from THEGAYUK.

  • Theatre Review | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – National Tour

    Theatre Review | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – National Tour

    ★★★ | Peter Pan Goes Wrong – Sheffield Theatres

    The cast of Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are back, with a disaster filled version of Peter Pan. Somewhere between the scenery collapsing, the technical hitches, backstage fallouts and some unrequited love between cast members, the troupe try to desperately to keep the show on the rails as chaos increasingly takes over, Peter Pan stops thinking happy thoughts and the crocodile becomes the star of the show.

    Mischief Theatre returns following on from The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery with two hours of laughter-inducing slapstick humour as the fictional cast try desperately to get through the performance. With slick precision and perfect comic timing, the cast plough through a barrage of jokes with a broad scattergun approach to the humour, as some jokes hit the mark, some miss completely and with another gag always rapidly following the last. 

    There were certainly plenty of smiles, chuckles and belly laughs to be had throughout the show’s duration, although the last ten minutes did descend more into silliness than comedy, but this didn’t detract from the feel-good factor the show produces. Cast member Oliver Stenton steals most of the scenes he touches; whilst Tom Babbage captures the hearts of the audience as the hapless Max.

    If you have seen Mischief Theatre before, then you will know exactly what to expect and you won’t be disappointed as they continue with their trademark humour. If you’ve not, then Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a great introduction to them with an enjoyable, silly and easily entertaining show. 

    Peter Pan Goes Wrong is at Sheffield Theatres until 1st February 2020 before continuing on its national tour.

  • Theatre Review | The Comedy About A Bank Robbery – National Tour and West End

    Theatre Review | The Comedy About A Bank Robbery – National Tour and West End

    ★★★☆☆ | The Comedy About A Bank Robbery

    After a daring prison break, Mitch Ruscitti, who is hindered by his affable-if-laughable, partner in crime Neil, plan the ultimate heist. Dragging in his girlfriend Caprice, along with her latest squeeze, Sam, they plot to steal a precious gem from the vaults of the bank owned by Caprice’s father. But these things never go to plan, as mistaken identity, ridiculous disguises, rapid clothing changes, multiple misunderstandings, increasingly large moustaches and a flock of seagulls all combine to frustrate the gang’s increasingly comedic attempts to steal the diamond.

    Direct from the Airplane! / Naked Gun school of comedy, whereby the machine gun delivery of gags are relentless (with more hitting the mark than missing it), The Comedy About a Bank Robbery harbours a witty and fast paced script intermingled with farce, slapstick and good, old fashioned physical comedy.  Coming across as a hybrid of the classic comedy teams such as Morecombe and Wise and The Three Stooges;  and the old school sit-coms, such as Fawlty Towers and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em , there are plenty of belly laughs to be had as the plans unravel.

    Liam Jeavons is great as the muscled thug Mitch, as is Jon Trenchard, as hapless looser Warren Sax, but the cast as a whole bring together a polished, well timed and impeccably rehearsed comedy. But the staging also deserves a mention, with a well-designed set and once scene which uses forced perspective to leave the cast members with a particularly tricky problem as to how to cross a room.

    The team behind The Play That Goes Wrong delivers another madcap night at the theatre, and if you enjoyed One Man, Two Guvnors or The Thirty-Nine Steps, then this stupid, screwball comedy will be right up your street.

    The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is currently at Sheffield Theatres and then rounding off its national tour, whilst The Comedy About A Bank Robbery and The Play That Goes Wrong continue in the West End.  

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Only Fools The (cushty) Dining Experience, Touring the UK

    The gang is all here in this new interactive show: Rodney Trotter, his older brother market trader Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter, the elderly and senile granddad, Trigger, and Cassandra. And if you don’t recognize these names, then perhaps this show is not the show for you!

    It’s the Only Fools The (cushty) Dining Experience. And just like the Faulty Towers Dining Experience, you get to spend a meal with a lively, and at times loud, and did I mention lively, group of characters from a highly popular British sitcom that’s still enduring to this day. Only Fools & Horses characters come to life right in front of you the minute you enter their sanctum – the Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton Hotel – the London venue. A market stall, and a cash bar, are the first signs that you are no longer where you thought you were, you have now entered Peckham and the environs of our popular characters. After 15 minutes of ‘getting to know them’ (though if you don’t know them then hopefully you would have brought someone who can explain to you who they are), you are ushered into ‘The Nag’s Head’ where an episode of the show practically unravels right in front of your very eyes.

    And in between all of the cast’s shenanigans, a nice three-course meal is served, including Tomato Soup, a nice and tasty Chicken Kiev with chips, and an Eton Mess for dessert, but the mess starts way before the food is served. In true Only Fools & Horses fashion, it’s Del-Boy who leads the cast, guiding his younger brother through decisions that need to be made. The ‘audience’ is made to be a part of the show by taking part in a ‘quiz’ at The Nag’s Head, with points being given by answering various questions, but my advice is to not volunteer for anything! It’s all good fun at this two-hour show where the actors really make you feel that they are the characters! On the night we saw it, Nick Moon made Del Boy come to life, as did Joshua Plummer who is the spitting image of Rodney. Clare Buckingham and Daniel Hope rounded out the actors.

    For more information on the show, and it’s locations, please go to: http://www.interactivetheatre.com.au/onlyfools/index.html

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Legally Blonde – Sheffield Theatres and National Tour

    ★★★ | Legally Blonde – Sheffield Theatres and National Tour

    With a penchant for pink, an encyclopaedic knowledge of fashion and an excitable outlook on life, sorority sister Elle thinks she is about to get engaged to her sweetheart and live out a life of pink, fashion-filled happiness. But instead of proposing, he dumps her for not being serious enough, and she decides that the best way to win him back is to follow him to Harvard and graduate in law. Despite not being the average Harvard student, she soon surpasses everyone’s expectations and earns a place on her law professor’s internship, where she helps to represent a famous fitness guru who is charged with murder. But can Elle prove her worth in the courtroom, or will she forever be perceived as being Legally Blonde.

    Based on the hit 2001 film, this show has all of the usual musical elements present and correct. From cheerleading sorority sisters to the sleazy law professor; this feel-good musical has a will they/won’t they love story, an underlying moral message about being true to yourself and plenty of fun to be had along the way.

    Lucie Jones (X-Factor) is surprisingly impressive as Elle Woods, performing the lead role with a fine voice and a natural and affable stage presence. Rita Simons (Eastenders) provides strong support as Pauline, Elle’s hairdressing friend, and plays the part with just enough of a tongue-in-cheek feeling to pull off the role; and the ensemble cast give it their all whilst constantly looking like they’re having fun

    Unlike many musicals, Legally Blonde has a stronger second act and doesn’t sag in the middle, meaning that whilst the show doesn’t endear itself to you from the outset, the writing, pace and momentum keep building until you do eventually fall for its charms. At times, the show is not too far away from a sing-through musical; with a barrage of songs which are catchy, if ultimately forgettable, and that progress the narrative nicely. The musical numbers are varied, fun, colourful and broadly energetic with musical highlights including a courtroom witness dilemma and trying to decide Is He Gay or European, an eighties style workout number in Whipped Into Shape and a cheerleader ensemble in What You Want.

    Legally Blonde is a fairly shallow piece of fluff, which has an abundance of bubble-gum pink and giggly sorority sisters, but also has with it an infectious feel; a vibrant energy, good-natured humour, plenty of colour and, most importantly, lots of fun. The production is bold, brash, camp and loud, and whilst this is not life changing theatre (and it never pretends to be), it serves its role as a rather enjoyable couple of hours of escapism.

    Legally Blonde is currently playing at Sheffield Theatres until the 4th November 2017 before continuing on its national tour through to June 2018.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Faulty Towers Dining Experience, London

    ★★★★

    | The Faulty Towers Dining Experience, Kingsway Hotel, London

    The Faulty Towers Dining Experience review

    Believe it or not, I’ve never seen an episode of Faulty Towers. I knew that it is a British television institution, a classic, yet I’ve just never got around to watching it (plus I’m a bit too young to remember when it originally aired on television). So I didn’t know what to expect when I went to the Faulty Towers Dining Experience.

    It was hilarious! Taking place in the dining room at Kingsway Hotel in Covent Garden, the Faulty Towers Dining Experience is an interactive and immersive theatre at its best. Of course, there is a meal that’s included in the experience, but it’s all about the show that is unravelling (and falling apart) right before your very eyes as you’re tucking into your leek and potato soup – that is if Manuel hasn’t taken it from you.

    If you don’t know much about the television show, which would be hard to believe, it is about characters in a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay. First off there is owner Basil Fawlty – a true Englishman – and his wife Sybil, who orders him around but she’s the one who wears the pants in the relationship. And then there is Manual – a short in stature Spanish waiter who practically speaks no English and gets the instructions from Basil all wrong. So it’s these characters from the show that you get to ‘enjoy’ your dining experience with.

    The show starts immediately when Basil (played by Benedict Holme) tells Manuel (Anthony Clegg as an exact replica to the Manuel played by Andrew Sachs) to take the glasses away, of course, Manuel takes people’s glasses off their faces and not the drink glasses! Then Basil tells Manuel to pass out the peanuts, so Manuel literally passes out the peanuts. It’s one thing after another, and once you sit down in the Faulty restaurant it’s only a matter of time until Manual interferes with you – he turns your napkin into a bib, tosses rolls around the room, does somersaults, and spends the entire time misunderstanding and misinterpreting everything Basils says. Lucky for us it’s Sybil (Suzanna Hughes) who manages, a bit, to keep the entire dinner from melting into complete chaos! It’s very physical comedy, but it’s also physical for the attendee because you’re laughing very hard and out loud too! It was the unlucky few who found a set of teeth in their soup – gags like this that make the whole thing hilariously fun and funny! No person is spared, and god forbid if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary – you will get a special gift from Sybil – and boy is it special! It’s an experience that you will not forget – just don’t mention the war!!!

    It was a treat to be transported back to the 1970’s with being part of Fawlty Towers Dining Experience. The trepidation that you might be picked on was real and you almost expect the soup to end up on your lap? Sybil was so like the television character down to the scary laugh, while Manuel was brilliant and made the whole show so very reminiscent of the television snow. What a great way to spend a two and a half hours – to be part of this experience makes me want to watch the television series now.

    Tickets for the Fawlty Towers Dining Experience can be bought here:

    http://www.torquaysuitetheatre.com

    If you have any questions on the show, there is a Frequently Asked Questions on the first page.
    The London shows, held in the Torquay Suite Theatre at the Kingsway Hall Hotel, are held throughout the year, while there is also a version that tours the UK as well as Australia and the rest of the world. Yes, this is how popular this show is – continuously playing much to the delight of the television show’s fans – it’s the world’s most successful comedy dining show of it’s kind and now it’s time for you to experience yourself too!

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Faaaabulous Ceri Dupree Show – National Tour

    THEATRE REVIEW | The Faaaabulous Ceri Dupree Show – National Tour

    ★★★| In this one man, twenty-one woman show, the Faaaabulous Ceri Dupree brings an evening of glitz, glamour and variety to the theatre. Featuring a combination of original songs, colourful characters, female impersonations, anecdotal comedy, an abundance of feathers and sequins, quick fire one liners and healthy dose of tongue in cheek sardonic barbs aimed at members of the audience, the show is unashamedly old school drag.

    Photo Credit – PR supplied

    Taking the scattergun approach to comedy, there was a good mixture of comedy, ranging from gentle observations to the slightly risqué to the downright crude, with the vast majority of the gags hitting the spot. Throw into this, a slew of characters, from Dame Edna Everage to Camilla Parker Bowles, from Shirley Bassey to Mary Hopkins and from Amy Winehouse to Gladys Pugh, there were plenty of laughs to be had.

    The show is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of success. Parts of the act were hilarious – such as the Dame Edna section, which involved copious amounts of ribbing members of the audience, whereas the Amy Winehouse impersonation fell rather flat and garnered little response. Some of the jokes were probably around when Bernadette was touring with Les Girls, and some of the relevance of the characters, such as Gladys Pugh (from Hi-Di-Hi) and Mary Hopkins would be lost on many of the younger members of the community (although gays of a certain age (like me) will find it hilarious).

    But that said, the show shone brightly in the main, especially with the original songs, some hilariously blue and innuendo filled humour, a song-laden second act and genuine warmth resonating throughout. With drag standards all present and correct, Joan Collins, Shirley Bassey, Kathyrn Jenkins, Charlotte Church and even the Queen don’t escape unscathed. As the show rounds to a close with the mirror balls spinning and the audience on their feet for a rousing rendition of I Am What I Am, you know that you are firmly in the campest of floorshows.

    The show is pure cabaret, of the ilk which is reminiscent of the old days of variety in the style of Hinge and Bracket or Danny La Rue.  What makes the show stand out is that it does away with the bitchiness and backstabbing and places the fun and entertainment value of drag squarely in the centre of the stage. Whilst there is very little here that you won’t have seen before if you had been knocking around the scene in the eighties, the show ups the ante of the pub cabaret circuit and delivers a quality and style of show which is becoming harder to find on the scene.

    Slick, polished and with more laugh out loud moments than anticipated, this is a show which will either take you back to your youth, or show you how it used to be done properly.

    The Faaaabulous Ceri Dupree Show was reviewed at CAST in Doncaster, who have a varied and packed programme of shows and is a cultural gem in the heart of the city. Visit https://castindoncaster.com/ for details. The show is on national tour and details can be found at http://www.ceridupree.co/index.html

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Charming Dick

    THEATRE REVIEW | Charming Dick

    ★★★ | Charming Dick

    Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a couple of cut-price synthetic-fibre-clad drag queens, a Eurovision medley, and a huge sack full of festive double entendres and innuendos – we at THEGAYUK can’t wait for Kris Kringle to cum down our chimney – falalalala la la la la.

    Producer Catia Ciarico and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s production of Charming Dick has more puns than letters to Santa requesting penis pumps. If you’ve a penchant for musical theatre, know your way around a winklepicker-tapping Dolly Parton number and the melody to ‘Money Money Money’ sends your baubles into a figgy-pudding frenzy, then this should be right up your North Pole.

    Charming Dick is a posing-pouch-packed with everything an adult yuletide panto should be, audience participation – “oh yes there is”. A Twankey (Tim McArthur), a wicked witch (Matthew Floyd), a prince (Stewart Briggs) a Little Red Riding Hood/blind mouse/chem-sex party fag-hag (Abigail Carter-Simpson) and of course, a Big Dick (Ali Frederick). Imagine Westminster City Council as the witch, then you’ve got the Noel narrative.

    Not every scene was like skating around the rink at Somerset House, a few of the lines took the same route as the lemon does with the Turkey on the nut-cracking day, and the ‘Twelve Day Of Christmas’ almost got lost in a snow-hole – but it all added to the jingle-belling jollity. Any mince pie indulgence from the derrieres-on-seats would have been worked off with the continuous guffaws.

    This is a stuffer for your stocking, a trimming for your tree, full of festive vulgarity – head to the Cockpit Theatre and we hope you ‘Oh Cum All Ye Faithful’.

    If we gave halves – we’d give three-and-half.

    The Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH
6 – 23 December 2016 | Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm 
£16 (adv), £18 (on the door), £12 (conc) | www.thecockpit.org.uk | | 020 7258 2925