York Theatre Royal, York – until 2 July 2022
Reviewed by Kirsty Thomson
5*****
The Play What I Wrote was a hilarious show that had the whole audience laughing from start to finish. Written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, this play follows a failing double-act, Dennis (Dennis Herdman) and Thom (Thom Tuck) as they land a gig as a Morecombe and Wise tribute act. Dennis is portrayed as ‘the funny one’ while Thom is ‘the straight one’ with a dream to write and perform his own plays. He is tricked into the Morecombe and Wise tribute act by Dennis and Arthur (Mitesh Soni) who pretends to be many other characters including David Pugh – the glittering West End star producer.
Mitesh Soni really stole the show as Arthur and all of the characters that Arthur pretends to be right from the moment he came up on stage from within the audience, pretending to be a member of the public watching the show. His ability to portray so many characters so effectively must be applauded.
The second act consisted of ‘The Play What I Wrote’ which was Thom’s script that Dennis finally agreed to perform. It was a fast-paced, energetic, slapstick show filled with many comical gags and amusing costumes. This second act always contains a mystery celebrity guest, who Thom and Dennis at first do not believe to be real and they ask to be removed from the stage. Our celebrity guest was Sue Holderness who is most famously known for her role of Marlene Boyce in Only Fools and Horses. She was excellent and really gelled with the other actors on stage.
Director Sean Foley, designer Alice Power and choreographer Ian West put together a seamless evening of endless laughs and I couldn’t recommend this show enough. A hilarious masterpiece!