Pleasance London – until 21 December 2024
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
5*****
Returning to London after runs in Edinburgh, Utah and a UK tour, Awkward Productions’ version of Gwyneth Paltrow’s moment in court is bigger, better and more bonkers than ever.
Linus Karp and Joseph Martin’s irrepressible charisma keeps the well-polished chaos just about on track as their genius/insane antics relate the story of how Gwyneth lost half a day’s skiing.
Retired optometrist (you’ll be surprised how many jokes they can wring from that fact!) Terry Sanderson suing Gwyneth Paltrow for damages after their collision on a ski slope in Utah resulted in one of the most bizarre trials possible, and this fiesta of songs, puppetry and audience participation revels in the ridiculousness of that situation: during the trial scenes, they often add clarifications that some of the most bizarre moments actually DID happen.
The first act introduces Gwyneth (Karp) and Sanderson (Martin), riffing gloriously on Paltrow’s pseudoscience grift with Gloop. Linus Karp tosses his hair and nails the faux humility as Gwyneth reminds everyone of her achievements in nearly every serenely delivered line. The self-absorbed persona is dazzling as her pep talk to Sanderson uses the titles of her cinematic hits as a wonderfully shallow, but intensely delivered, motivational speech. The naming of daughter Apple is a fantastic running joke, with the part played by an actual apple, and poor Chris Martin takes a few hits as well. In contrast, Sanderson is a sad, angry failure of a man with a hint of madness in his eyes in Joseph Martin’s brilliantly OTT portrayal. Both parties’ love interests are played by audience members reading their lines cold – risky, but worth it when they are just the right level of drunk. The inclusion of a legendary deer to shoehorn in a Snow White-esque song shouldn’t have worked, but by the time the deer is wheeled on, Karp and Martin could have just sat in silence and the audience would probably have loved it – that’s how good this pair are. With a video performance from Trixie Mattel as Gwyneth’s mother bringing howls of appreciation, the defiantly low budget (but intricate) effects also involve the audience on the slopes.
The second act is set in the courtroom, and it is here that the line between reality and theatre gets fuzzy as many of the most nonsensical lines are taken straight from the trial. There are more of Leland’s songs in the second act – the best being sung by Martin as Sanderson’s puppet lawyer (not as batshit crazy as their Camilla performance, but still a fabulously unhinged delight) – as expert and surprise witnesses are called and the jokes pile up until the climatic final statements are given. Darren Criss and Cat Cohen’s vocals allow Karp and Martin to lip-sync with glee in their superb duet. The audience are the jury and vote, meaning that there are two possible endings to the show – leaving many of us very tempted to go back hoping to see the alternative ending.
Forget 12 Angry Men, this is the best trial drama that you will ever see. Bonkers and brilliant – get a ticket and get Gooped.