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March 28, 2024, 11:14:27 PM

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Theatre Comedy

Started by Alberon, July 18, 2021, 11:25:04 PM

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Alberon

So what's the best and/or worst theatre comedy shows you've been to? I don't mean stand-up shows, but proper multi-cast productions.

This evening me and Mrs Alberon ventured up to London to watch The Comeback at the Noel Coward theatre. It's basically a two-hander starring Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen (Radio 4's The Pin) as two sets of comedy duos. Starts a little slowly but escalates into some funny and often surreal slapstick. And tonight only (probably) guest starred Bonnie Langford.

In the past I've also enjoyed several of the Goes Wrong plays (before they overstretched the format in their TV series). A delightfully silly musical version of Young Frankenstein and One Man Two Guvnors with Rufus Hound in the lead role (and he was very good in it to).

Pink Gregory

Has anyone ever seen one of those Run for Your Wife-alike farce plays that you see in provincial theatre brochures, "the Joneses are taking a much needed golfing holiday but his secret lover is hiding in the golf bag!"?

I have always wondered who the audience is for those.

dissolute ocelot

I saw a Ray Cooney farce on a school trip to London, bizarrely enough, many years ago while in early teens. Along with some slightly more cultured viewing. Very tame, and very old school, but I think we still laughed. (More recently I worked with a middle-aged women with a husband who was a bigwig in finance, and they went to a lot of these touring comedies: there's a vast industry of these from Cooney, which was slightly below her even if she went, through Ayckbourn to the NFT's One Man, Two Guvnors.)

Also as an occasional theatre goer, I've seen a range of other comic theatre. From Gareth "Blake" Thomas in Shaw's Pygmalion (not unamusing and quite good fun) to Mike Bartlett's more modern sex comedy Cock, about a gay man who sleeps with a woman (which is very funny but slightly nasty about women), and Martin McCormick's The Day the Pope Emptied Croy which is about 2/3rds funny 80s comedy before turning into a Christian allegory. And several attempts to make Shakespeare funny, which generally involve a lot of bawdy gestures and silly costumes.

Quote from: Pink Gregory on July 19, 2021, 06:09:28 AM
Has anyone ever seen one of those Run for Your Wife-alike farce plays that you see in provincial theatre brochures, "the Joneses are taking a much needed golfing holiday but his secret lover is hiding in the golf bag!"?

I have always wondered who the audience is for those.

The ones with one or two cast members moderately famous, and someone in their boxer shorts drawn cartoon-style on the poster?  I've always wondered that too.

DrGreggles

Quote from: Alberon on July 18, 2021, 11:25:04 PM
In the past I've also enjoyed several of the Goes Wrong plays (before they overstretched the format in their TV series).

I'm a fan of those too.
It's mainly been the telly stuff of theirs that hasn't worked for me, Clive.
The first times I saw The Play That Goes Wrong and A Comedy About A Bank Robbery represent two of the best theatre experiences I've ever had.

Been enjoying their Mischief Movie Night In lockdown shows too.

Mardukas

I've got very good memories of seeing Anthony Hopkins in Pravda as a teenager. Offhand, I can't think of many other comic performances he's known for.
I also loved the Stephen Moore Version of A Small Family Business. A classic door-slamming, bed-hopping, English farce (in a multi-storied cutaway house) until the last 5 minutes
Spoiler alert
when you realise their quaint little furniture business has slowly morphed into the mafia
[close]
I always feel Alan Ayckbourn isn't given his full due. I think he's very good at the dark-underbelly-of-the-everyday trope.

Endicott

I saw Woman In Mind at its London premiere in 1986. That's a long time ago so all I can really say now is that I enjoyed it.

Small Man Big Horse

I've seen a fair amount of off West End comedy theatre (including a musical version of Breaking Bad which was surprisingly decent) but that would take ages to list, but of the "Fuck me, that's expensive" variety I caught a staging of Sexual Perversity In Chicago with Hank Azaria (superb), Minnie Driver (pretty good) and Matthew Perry (awful, he mainly shouted his lines and rarely showed any emotion) and the Made In Dagenham musical (though that didn't cost anything as my ex blagged free tickets) which I liked a fair deal, Gemma Arterton and Steve Furst were both strong though I can't say any of the songs were that amazing.

Noodle Lizard

I found the stage adaptation of The Producers with Nathan Lane and Lee Evans hilarious when I first saw it as a teenager (before seeing the original film). I'm not sure I would now, quite as much.

SweetPomPom

League of Gents were great in Art, even Reece blazing through a speech in full Pam Doove mode.
Spoiler alert
Hi Reece, love you
[close]

Matt Berry was not great in the Philanthropist, Simon Bird was better but Lily Cole  was by far the highlight.

Producers was so much better than expected last time I saw it on tour - Manford and Louie Spence both good but the fella who played the devil in Jerry Springer the Opera is my favourite Hitler ever.

More recently, Toby Jones was ace in Uncle Vanya - effortlessly funny.


MoreauVasz

Bring back No Sex Please, We're British!

I can remember going to see the, stage versions of Adrian Mole and Allo Allo as a kid. Can't remember much about the Adrian Mole except for the Lovecraftian horror of those really long Picadilly Line escalators. I remember Allo Allo being more filthy and crude on stage too. Arthur Bostrom declaring "in my bog,  I have a cack"