Jack Studio Theatre – until 27 July 2019
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Arrows and Traps takes a giant leap into new territory with this comedy celebrating the 50th anniversary pf the moon landing. In Ross McGregor’s farcical version of events, NASA can land on the moon, but just can’t film it. Enter Edward Price, producer of a sci-fi show that has just been cancelled before the end of its first season. Offered 2 million dollars by a CIA agent to fake footage, Price and his ex-wife Carol try to keep their eccentric cast and crew in the dark as they film their new rewritten scenes.
This is a great premise, and there are lots of good ideas (maybe too many), but it doesn’t quite gel together. Firstly, it’s too long – there’s a good 20 or 30 minutes of material that could be lost in order to create a more coherent and focussed comedy. Setting up the situation and the characters takes too long and isn’t needed as these are familiar stereotypes. Their backstories could perhaps be just as obvious through some well-timed throwaway lines as the plot progresses. As it is, the first scenes drag a little as each character gets their moment.
There’s the hippy newcomer, Alchemy (Lucy Ioannou), adored by walking disaster area Howard (Will Pinchin), leading man Daniel (Steven Jeram) – graduate of the groin and eyebrow acting academy of starship captains, Linda (Vivian Belosky) resigned to wearing as little as legally possible on a Sunday evening show, and Perry (Daniel Ghezzi), the frankly insane but deeply committed actor who dons the rubber masks to play the aliens. Ghezzi steals every scene with his magnificently OTT performance which blends aspects of French Stewart in 3rd Rock From The Sun, John Leguizamo in Moulin Rouge and a shedload of LSD. With a talented cast like this I can understand why McGregor would want to give them as much to do as possible, but there aren’t many laughs until the moon landing plot is revealed by Alex Stevens’ Agent Harris. The relationship arcs are obvious from the beginning in authentic trashy TV style, and sometimes the play has the feel of a trippy episode of Scooby Doo – which is never a bad thing.
The comedy influences are clear, with Charlie Ryall and Christopher Tester providing fine verbal sparring in Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn mode and lots of slapstick physicality, with some absurdist business thrown in for good measure. But while Tester and Ryall give their all, the audience’s eyes and attention are drawn to the glorious clowning of Pinchin and Ghezzi as they perform their schtick in the background. There could well have been some genius lines being delivered, but nobody was really listening as they were absorbed by Ghezzi and his disturbingly complex relationship with a stepladder. There is just too much going on at once, and while nothing is done badly, the components of some scenes seem to be in competition against, rather than working with, each other. There’s no doubting that McGregor is an excellent writer – some of the more reflective, quieter moments are delightful – but an excellent script editor might help streamline One Giant Leap into something special. The set is wonderfully detailed and authentic, and as always with Arrows and Traps, the music is perfectly judged. As the landing date approaches and things get more frantic, the laughs come much more frequently, building to a brilliantly bonkers dance routine that is hilarious and will leave you unable to keep a straight face whenever you next hear Space Oddity.
Even with some flashes of brilliance and a stellar cast, One Giant Leap doesn’t quite reach the starry heights it’s aiming for.