Another actual play...and this time a comedy! Not as slick or as funny as the 'goes wrong' series, a strange mixture of really full on rude and gag heavy comedy that makes you wonder who it's aimed at - it's neither entirely family friendly, full on Jim Davidson/Working Man's Club or puntastic and gags alone. Cut the rude, and it's very funny, and a comeback for The Comeback having been Locked down by Lockdown 3.0 and bounced back...
Two newish comedians are trapped in a dismal, out in the sticks-ville theatre with two ageing Northern comedians (Two Ronnies, Morecombe and Wise, Tommy Cooper all rolled into one but very Morecombe and Wise homage heavy). Get this - they look like each other as soon as a sparkly hat is applied to the head! With an agent in the audience, the newish comedians hatch a plan to usurp the comeback and seize the chance of fame for themselves. We, the audience, are that stickville theatre!
It all goes League of Gentlemen/The Young Ones as they don Teddy and Frankenstein heads; go in and out of cupboards (which are Narnia-esque); round and round the curtains (stage to behind the scenes) and various unfortunate people are tasered! Best of all is when one of the audience is volunteered to join the performance, and it is actually a surprise guest - I had Ruby Wax in my audience, who was superb (even though she only had one line!)
Gags are fantastic - things go from small to large as passed round the curtain or change form; one chair is brilliantly moved and moved in the search for two chairs; a very funny gag where they need three actors but are only two and when they finally fill in the blanks...people are hit with tea trays; Ruby Wax is unleashed with a tea tray, and they taser not an ageing comedian in a cupboard...but Ruby Wax (eep). Two stunt doubles run around in Teddy and Frankenstein head disguises and jump in and out of cupboards; there is even a leg stretching gag as the newish comedian appears to be pulled by the leg from behind the curtain. Brilliant! The Morecombe and Wise homage with a song and dance is sweet, as are trying to get the newish gags to work with the joke in the right place and with the right emphasis...
It didn't make me laugh consistently though as some of the humour is super crude, and this brings me back to the point - who is the audience for this? Students? And I think because of this unevenness, it never quite gels - it's not quite family friendly enough, nor is it edgy and Fringe material - but somewhere in between. The promotional material suggests something more along the lines of Curtains the musical, gentler and old timey - it really isn't!
Go for the chases; enjoy the jokes; but there should be more! The asides where they're trying to get the gag in the right place or the wind ups which fall over are really funny. Hope you get an awesome mystery guest as I did. The surprise guests are a surprise! Watch out for the butler with the grapes who appears from the audience and solemnly joins the stage at the end!
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