I felt honoured when I got the opportunity to go watch a production written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields- the trio who brought us ‘The Play That Goes Wrong' and ‘The Comedy About a Bank Robbery'. I was sitting in my seat excited, apprehensive and ready for a night of laughs, my hopes were high… maybe too high.
Through the 2 hours and 40-minute production, we go back to a time that we all remember too well, the school classroom. We follow the story of 5 best friends and get to see glimpses of 3 different stages of their lives. We first meet them as energetic and playful 6-year- olds. Next as sexually frustrated and emotional 14- year –olds. Then in the long and final scene, we see them at a school reunion at the age of 30. Each character at all 3 ages is played by the same actors and the set is always a classroom but as time goes on and they grow up slight alterations are made such as a classic blackboard changing to an interactive whiteboard in the final scene.
This rough and easy to watch comedy didn’t get that many laughs from me, the humour used within this production was very simple and immature, which I understand is a perfect fit for the storyline but I was just expecting a bit more originality. The first scene was hectic and overshadowed by the actors shouting, but as the play went on I was glad to see that this wasn't a running theme, because I could feel a headache slowly developing. After this toe-curling opening, the play does slowly get better as it explores adult life and how we are still just big kids. This comedy was easy to watch but its simple storyline does not stand out, I think this production for me would have been a lot more enjoyable if before the interval approached I had not already guessed and figured out the storyline and how the all-important ending was going to play out.
Even though this was not the experience I was hoping for or expecting the production does have a deeper meaning behind it. We see the struggles of one of the characters Archie and the battle he has when it comes to excepting a certain part of himself. Unfortunately, this serious twist is overshadowed by it being heavily signalled in advance and the chaos of the rest of the production.
A* for effort but due to the unnecessary length of the play and it only being crudely funny at times it felt more like I was in detention.
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