Mischief Theatre have been making mischief for over a decade. Taking their inspiration from Michel Frayn’s Noises Off, they made their name with the multi-award winning The Play That Goes Wrong, which 10 years on is still running in the West End.
Mischief are the major British farceurs of the day and their productions are as popular with theatregoers as the French bedroom farces of Georges Feydeau were in La Belle Epoque and as popular as the English farces of Ben Travers at the Aldwych in the 1920’s and 1930’s and featuring the same familiar comic team.
Henry Lewis and Henry Shields are the writers. Lewis is also the artistic director. Their latest show, an espionage spoof, improvised and scripted, strong on clever wordplay, is as silly and as funny and as absurd as their past productions and in the same genre as The Comedy About a Bank Robbery.
CIA and KGB agents and double and treble agents are in a London Hotel during the 1960’s Cold War era seeking a stolen top-secret file. Also embroiled are a hapless, innocent civilian, a baker and his girlfriend, and an actor who wants to audition for the role of James Bond in a new film.
Most of the action takes place in four hotel rooms on two floors, one wall open, like a huge doll’s house. Timing is everything and Matt DiCarlo directs the comic mistaken identity chaos at a delicious fast pace. All the production now needs is a bit of truncating.
Mischief fields a fine ensemble of adept farceurs. Henry Lewis stands out as the actor who wants to audition for James Bond, a role for which he is massively unsuitable. David Hearn is very amusing, especially when he is instantly alternating his character from menacing assassin to ingratiating room service. Greg Tannahill is perfect as a camp concierge.
There are gags galore, verbally and physically. The audience absolutely loved it.
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