Mischief Theatre has been making mischief for over a decade. Taking their inspiration from Michel Frayn’s Noises Off, they made their name with 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, the direct descendants of Ben Travers, Brian Rix and Ray Cooney. They have had a huge success worldwide and won many awards.
Henry Lewis, the artistic director, and Henry Shields are the writers. Their latest show, an espionage spoof, improvised and scripted, strong on wordplay, is as silly and as funny and as absurd as their past productions. It has had a long gestation period of rewrites, readings and workshops.
This time, the genre is more like The Comedy About a Bank Robbery in that nothing goes wrong and there are no technical malfunctions. It’s a bigger, more ambitious show filling a bigger theatre.
CIA and KGB agents and double and treble agents are in a London Hotel during the 1960s 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. Timing is everything, and Matt DiCarlo directs the comic chaos at a fast pace, verbally and physically. 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 between menacing assassin and ingratiating room service. Greg Tannahill is perfect as a camp concierge.
There are gags galore and bags of energy. The audience loved it.