York Theatre Royal – 17 November 2018
Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
5*****
Jeeves and Wooster is in my opinion one of the best comedies to exist, my third time seeing it on stage this time done by the company Theatre By The Lake. I obviously went in with high expectations, and I was not let down. The play follows Bertie Wooster a eccentric man with his Butler Jeeves, we watch them put on a play about an eventful weekend Wooster had.
Thomas Richardson played Wooster and delivered the character in incredibly well managing to bring comedy pretty much every second he is on stage. Theo Fraser Steele played Jeeves the Butler and brains of the duo, when as the character of Jeeves he is very held back and calm, but when playing other character nothing is held back, this contrast is hilarious as we see some farcical characters and quick to think costume changes on stage. The third and final actor in the show is James Duke who played the Butler Seppings, who took on other roles as stepping in the show, a butlers character just like Jeeves spares no expense when playing a character on stage, from a police man to a ever growing Spode. The cast of three did a tremendous job of working with each other and creating a show that doesn’t stop giving the audience the laughs.
The set is a character in itself, which starts off bare and slowly gets more and more advanced thanks to Jeeves handy work building a top notch set, both incredibly smart and ever changing. And the way that Wooster reacts to the set is hilarious as he has no idea what is happening. The way that this is presented on stage is something I’ve never seen outside of the show and I’m happy I can laugh about it for the third time now, it never gets old.
I have loved this show and thanks to Theatre By The Lake I love it even more, you always have a fear that a company may ruin one of you favourite shows, but when the curtain goes down you find that they’ve done a splendid job and continue to laugh after the show. If my review doesn’t make you go and watch it, I don’t know what will, you’ll be a fool not to watch Jeeves and Wooster on stage.