Apparently VK is not one to move on from an injustice and, more than half a year after missing “Christmas Carol Goes Wrong”, she is still bitter about it. No matter that it was due to circumstances beyond our control – a broken ankle – and that no one was really to blame. She is not yet over it.
But the chance to watch the original Mischief cast, well known to us from “The Goes Wrong Show”, might have helped to mend the hurt a little. I think I still need to rebook Christmas Carol for this year but that’s OK, cause I want to see it as well.
We had a previous engagement before the show but that’s a whole other post, so I’ll tell you about that some other time. Why not join us at a chaotic Five Guys around 6pm where there’s no ice in the drinks machine or toilet paper in the loos? I won’t say which branch but we’ve been there before and it was fine then so I’m not sure what was going on. The orders took a while as well but at least we were only going to the theatre, not working a shift there…unlike some other customers who were also left waiting.
All was well tho and we were fed and ready to go long before we actually had to. With 50 minutes till curtain up, I suggested moving but even my fellow earlybird Roo looked a bit cynical at how early we might be. I reminded them that there was still a bit of a walk to the theatre but Google Maps told me that walk would be around four minutes, so I eventually capitulated and got a load of peanuts for VK to shell while we waited for it to be 7pm.
Which meant we joined the queue for the show at a few minutes past 7 and the doors didn’t seem to have opened yet. The queue was going down to the Greggs on the corner and doubling back to the theatre. I thought at first that people were queuing for Greggs itself, which VK pointed out was the most British thing ever. I’m not sure why there was a delay but then I didn’t realise it was the first night until the end of the show, so I imagine it was just a few last minute tweaks. Or maybe the ushers were waiting for an order in Five Guys.
We were in the Upper Circle, with seats sold as restricted view. When we got to the seats, the view seemed absolutely fine:
But when the seats in front of us were occupied, we did have to shift about a bit to see. The tickets had a warning that certain bits of Act 1 would only be visible on a screen and that was true because of the design of the set…but actually, that worked fine. We could see most of the action on stage and then had the screens for the top part of the set. It’s hard to explain without spoilers. But yes, this was the first time we’ve had restricted view seats that have genuinely been a bit restricted as we often buy those tickets…still, you get what you pay for and considering how often my kids get to go to the theatre, they should be grateful for anything they get. On a related note, I may have drawn a line at the £500 Leslie Odom Junior tickets. I hear he’s great though.
Onto the show! I should say that this is not a “Goes Wrong” but is very much in the same spirit of slapstick and fast paced gags. The opening scene had some rapidfire wordplay that had both kids howling within the first two minutes. It was going to be a good one. In fact, the family are still quoting it today. It’s basically a 1960s farce, with intertwining plotlines, mistaken identities and a lot of bottles of Shiraz being thrown out of windows. It may very loosely be based on real events but if Mincemeat has taught us nothing, it’s that the real world of covert intelligence can be stranger than fiction.
Although this is not a “Goes Wrong”, you might be forgiven for thinking this is a Cornley Polytechnic “Goes Right”. After brief turns as MI6 and CIA bosses, Henry Lewis spends most of the show as pompous struggling actor Douglas Woodbead, who is not a million miles away from Robert of Cornley. But wouldn’t you disappointed if you saw Henry Lewis in a show and he wasn’t doing any “loud acting”?
Henry Shields is put-upon baker Bernard, whose interactions with Douglas does have the feel of the Chris vs Robert dynamic. Again, no spoilers here but there is a great sequence between the two of them on the rooftop in Act 2. Henry Shields does a very good line in “well-meaning but exasperated” and it’s in full effect here as he tries but fails to propose to his girlfriend Rosemary (Adele James) at the Piccadilly Hotel. “Oh biscuits!” he exclaims, when yet another spanner is thrown into the works….and during the course the play there are enough spanners that he gets through the entire bakery range. If I was going to nitpick, which I won’t, I would wonder whether even a baker would have heard of foccaccia in 1961 but yknow, I can see why it was worth an anachronism to set up the gag.
The other main characters are the Soviet agents, Elena and Sergei (Bryony Corrigan and Chris Leask), the CIA agent and his mum, Lance and Janet (Dave Hearn and Nancy Zamit) and the hotel manager Albert (Greg Tannahill). There are some familiar faces from the TV show and, again, some familiar tropes but that’s not a negative. For example, Dave “Max” Hearn is charming-but-incompetent as ever and Nancy Zamit reprises the Annie role of holding things together in the midst of chaos. What I love about the TV shows is how they work together as an ensemble and that pulls right through to the stage show. I think Adele James is the only one I haven’t seen before but I think she was in the Noel Coward theatre production of this show last summer, so she fits right in with the rest of the cast seamlessly.
Although the action nearly all takes place in the same location (the Piccadilly hotel), there are numerous different sets, with the lobby, the corridors, the rooftop and even the laundry popping up at different times. There is a great four-room set, which is the bit that requires the screens. Still no spoilers but it does create a great 60s-style split screen effect. And there is much, much potential for mix ups and physical comedy with the characters swapping rooms and occasionally falling through things. That is as much as I’m going to say. The staging is, to quote the show itself, flawless.
The plot is satisfyingly twisty, especially towards the end so it does work as spy mystery but let’s face it, you’re here for the comedy aren’t you? And there’s plenty of that, with barely a single line of filler in the whole show. The dialogue is quickfire and only stops for laughs and applause….and there was plenty of both. Roo had to take his inhaler several times because he was laughing so hard.
There’s not too much else I can give away without…well, giving it away really. But if you like clever jokes, puns, pop culture references and callbacks (“always have all the right ingredients”) then you will love this. It’s like “The Great Muppet Caper” meets James Bond meets “The Naked Gun”. There are lots of little visual gags, some great action sequences and ambitious set changes. There’s even a stunt double…of sorts. Oh, and some pigeons and the tube, just to make sure you know it’s set in London.
It’s only on for a limited time, so if this sounds like your kind of show you should probably book now. The age recommendation is 10+ and that’s about right I think – there are some jump scares and a bit of swearing. But for those of you with older kids and teens, it’s the perfect summer holiday treat. Click here for tickets and more info.
Oh, and in case you were wondering – mango sorbet. And it was delicious. Top marks and a nice change from the vegan salted caramel.
