Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 5th January 2022
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
4.5 ****
Yet another mirthful evening brought to you by those comedy geniuses at Mischief. Anyone familiar with their earlier material such as The Play That Goes Wrong will know exactly what to expect. Or not! You see, this is a rather different work than the aforementioned one. It is a straighter, character driven piece relying less on their usual slapstick style.
The plot centres on a group of friends through 3 different ages. The first half of the show (acts 1 and 2 cover ages 6 and 14). The 6 year old section bursts forth with great vigour, introducing our main characters and their classroom. As you would expect there’s a lot of jumping around, noise and some wonderful misunderstandings of their parent’s words all portrayed with aplomb by this wonderful cast. The teenage act is less naive and joyous, though still very funny. Lots of awkward behaviour, posturing and hormones raging which cleverly sets up events which culminate in the final act.
I especially enjoyed the interplay between Spencer (Dharmesh Patel), Archie (Daniel Abbott) and Katie (Lauren Samuels). It’s hard to say too much without giving the plot away but each has their moments to shine in both humour and drama and there’s a great deal of both. Moon (Yolanda Ovide) and Simon (Matt Cavendish) are more tragic figures, but (again) there’s plenty of laughs there too. A fully rounded cast who you genuinely feel for, which is no mean feat given that this is a comedy not a drama. There is some exceptional acting from all involved showing great range (including touching moments, tragedy, farce and manic incredulity).
Although the first half of the show was very funny, it really takes off in the second half (act 3, the adult reunion) with the introduction of Chemise and Paul.
Chemise (Jamie Birkett) is especially hilarious and steals all the scenes she is in. It’s not just that her lines are hilarious but her delivery is perfect. It’s also the way the main characters react off her to perfection that brings (arguably) the loudest roars of the night. I would love her to have her own show – she was that fantastic!
Paul (Killian Macardle) is a character with few lines but every appearance is worth waiting for. His performance gets more manic and crescendos into a hilarious costume that is a sight to behold and will have you almost falling off your chair with laughter.
Hamsters are worthy of special mention too – with a clever series of names (yes, that is plural as there are plenty of our furry friends) etc. that displays the quality of the writing, as the creative team wring every ounce of humour out of anything and everything.
This show is enormous fun and was brilliantly acted by a cast obviously enjoying themselves, just as I was enjoying watching it. Another triumph from the Mischief team! Highly recommended to bring sunshine to these dark winter days