Post coming about ticket touts

I just had a thought that I might do a post soon about ticket touts as they are currently in the news here in the UK. There as select committee yesterday from the culture department with Ticketmaster and StubHub and the MPs don't seem very happy with their answers!

This will now get reported back to Karen Bradley who is the Culture Secretary and happens to be my MP. Therefore, I am currently writing a letter to her with some friends, my sister and her friends about our experiences, opinions and our wishes that she should be doing something about it. If we get a response I'll post some of it on her.

For now, here's an article from a UK newspaper about the current situation: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/nov/15/stubhub-ticketmaster-mps-touts-teckets

Let me know your thoughts/experiences of this and these idiots!

Everyone's a crook! The Comedy About A Bank Robbery

We saw The Comedy About A Bank Robbery on the 3rd September at the Criterion Theatre. We had Ellie Morris on as Caprice and Steven Rostance on as Officer Shuck. The rest of the original cast was on. We sat in the middle of row D in the stalls. 

I then saw it again on the 6th November (sitting just a row in front slightly to the left so my view was virtually the same) and we had we think Gareth Tempest on as Warren (sorry if this is wrong, I didn't properly check the cast board as I usually do as I was with my friends and trying to keep track of them!). The rest of the original cast was on though again. I felt I enjoyed it more the second time as although I knew where some of the jokes were coming or what was going to be said, I wasn't trying as much to learn characters/follow the story so could just enjoy the comedy and I had forgotten where a lot of the funny moments were anyway. So this one is well worth multiple visits. The theatre is pretty cool as well as it is right in the middle of Piccadilly Circus and is underground which is different. There is lots of tiles on the walls leading down to the auditorium which has composers names on if you are interested and want to try and spot your favorites! 

Here's the trailer which shows some of the slapstick and musical numbers pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEbjC7P4CH4

And here's the clip from TV which shows part of the scene done on wires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CQC0ki8BpY

First of all, let me tell you that I think this is one of the best things I have ever seen and has quickly become a favourite of mine as you can probably tell. I will definitely be going again and my sister wants to go again soon too anyway as do my mates after they have been to the other Mischief Theatre productions!  I wanted to go again asap with my friends to show them the original cast before they leave and that was literally the only weekend we were free before January when I was told is about the time they are leaving! We are going to see Jersey Boys before that closes in March around January time so I had to leave that month free to see that and due to cost/travel etc. I can only afford to see one London one every few months or so. (I'm saving up for Hamilton as well so those in the know will know how expensive those tickets could potentially be!)

I think I should explain a little about the company who created this play first off in case people don't know. So, it is a play by a company called Mischief Theatre, who also wrote The Play that Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. I'll review those soon, after Peter Pan has been on the TV at Christmas (I'll do a quick post to remind people!) and The Play that Goes Wrong after I've seen the tour next year! Mischief Theatre were formed from a group of LAMDA graduates and from what I can gather specialise in improvisation, and have been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival etc. and they have gained members over the years. It is headed up by Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer, who are two of the writers as well. The other writer is Henry Shields for these three productions. Many of the members are cast members in their shows (often at the same time or some are in one and others in another at certain points), and other cast members have other roles in the company as well such as Dave Hearn is head of press (if you email them he is the one who replies which was a nice surprise for me when I got a reply!). Anyway, here is their website with more info about them if anyone is interested: http://mischieftheatre.co.uk/ Their mix of comedy styles is fantastic and I'm pretty confident there is something in there for everyone. I have been with several different people now, we all have very different senses of humor (particularly my friends) and we have all laughed so hard at this play. There are influences in there from Monty Python, Blackadder, Faulty Towers etc., and seems to appeal to every generation. There's slapstick, play on words, things that become relevant later without  you realising at first, fast back and forth conversation scenes, over the top reactions etc,, there really is something to match your sense of humor. I'm not really one to laugh out loud at things, but this made me all the way through, making you want to jump of your seat and had people crying with laughter. I've never seen my Mum cry from laughing so much or one of my mates who is usually very hard to please! 

Here's a quick go at the plot without ruining too much I hope! It is set in the 1950s in Minneapolis, USA and mostly takes place in a bank run by Mr Freeboys. His daughter is Caprice who basically just goes around ripping men off for money. Her boyfriend is Mitch who is in jail when we first meet him. The prison guard there is Cooper who turns out to be his friend. At the bank we also have Warren who is technically still an intern despite how long he was worked there, Mr Freeboys nephew Roger is the security guard and Ruth is like the receptionist/secretary. Her son is Sam who ends up liking Caprice. Officer Shuck is there to supervise the bank and ends up going out with Ruth. The confusing character in the programme is Everyone Else, which literally does mean the actor in that role is playing everyone else, which includes Roger. Other characters of his include a robber, a prince, an old man and a German guy, as well as seagulls! Basically, the plot is that a high value diamond is being stored at Mr Freeboys bank and Mitch wants to steal it. Caprice and Cooper are part of the plan and through a series of events, so is Sam. I won't tell you what happens with the diamond in the end as that would ruin it big style!

With this one, I think I'll tell you about the best bits whilst describing the characters, numbers and sets etc. as that seems the easiest way to do it. Hope that is okay and I might use that format for plays now. 

So the main group from Mischief Theatre are currently in The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, which is why we decided to go this year to see them. I cannot fault any of the cast members I have seen, so will write my favourite things/parts about them. I'll go in the order they are in the programme below: 

First is Henry Shields as Mitch who is what would be classed as the villain in the story. He is personally my favourtie as he is the one that was to put up with lots of the nonsense and my mates all say he is like me dealing with all of them! My favourite part of his is when he is dealing with Mr Freeboys when they are putting their plan into motion at the bank and Mr Freeboys keeps getting annoyed with him, and also when they first meet, with all of the slapstick comedy between them. Him dealing with Cooper is also very funny, who was played by Greg Tannahill. My favourtie scene of his is when he is speaking to Mitch on a radio and there is a lot of fast paced word play dialogue. He becomes a very lovable character as he is constantly seeking Mitch's approval as his best friend and if he has done his job right, which he never has. These two work very well together in their scenes.

Next is Chris Leask as Everyone Else, he has so many roles but he plays them all brilliantly. My favourite part of his though is when is he playing a man, an old man and a German man, all of who Caprice is leading on. He does a brilliant scene where they are all arguing with each other and two are fighting and he has to switch between them all. This is so funny to watch and you cannot help but appreciate the difficulty of that. Nancy Wallinger (now Zamit) played Ruth who seems to be the real one running the bank. The thing that stood out for us about her was her voice. As I shall talk about later, there are musical numbers and she leads a few of them. We were not expecting her to be able to sing as well as she does as it is not a musical but she is a phenomenal singer. She is probably the strongest female character and my favourite scenes of hers were when she was dealing with the men, especially how she deals with a robber, she is one cool lady!

Henry Lewis played Mr Freeboys and he was most of my mates favourite due to his brilliant ability to get very angry! He does that a few times, where he gets very angry and then immediately back to being professional and trying to cope with the idiots around him. My favorite scene of his is his breakdown in the bank when a reporter arrives. Jonathan Sayer was Warren Slax and I think that the best part of this role is the slapstick routines he has to deal with and Jonathan performs them brilliantly. The understudy we had for this part in November was just as good to be honest, but you could possibly tell more that Jonathan was used to the role more and interacting with the other actors more as his performance flowed a bit better, especially a scene involving wires, a wall and a ladder. Everyone ends up loving this character though and feels a bit sorry for him.

Dave Hearn played Sam, who was my sister's favourite. My favourite scene of his an unexpected game of charades with Caprice when they are pretending to be Mr Freeboys to Mitch. He is brilliant at the very fast paced scenes, as well as the physical comedy elements on the wires for example. His facial expressions, especially his eyes, are very funny. Charlie Russel was Caprice in November and was very funny, again especially in the fast paces scenes with Sam and Mitch. My favourite scene of hers though is on the wires when stealing the diamond and she sings to keep the guard asleep (see YouTube clip linked above). The understudy we had in September for this role was equally as strong in the role though. Again, Caprice is definitely not a lady to be messed with. Finally, Jeremy Lloyd played Officer Shuck who is more of a side character, but still very funny. His best scene is when Mr Freeboys is/is not after a key and we see him have a complete breakdown eventually over the chaos. Again, the understudy we had in September was just as good.

As I mentioned earlier, there are musical numbers too! We were singing along before it even started to the music playing in the auditorium, my sister as a 13 year old was getting some looks that she knew all the lyrics, entirely my fault as I love 1950s music so she will have heard me listening to it and playing it! My mates knew less but couldn't resist singing along to 'Rockin' Robin' and 'Little Bitty Pretty' one which we all knew from the Matilda film. However, the musical numbers in the show are 'Come Softly to me', 'Dynamite', 'The Great Pretender', 'Why don't you do right' and 'Something's Got A Hold On Me' if you fancy a listen to the originals. Their version of 'Dynamite' is featured in the trailer linked above which I think was my favorite. They are sung for a little bit like a concert and then intertwined into the play, such as one becomes part of the Church scene or the cast are still singing them, popping up behind the set as the play is moving on. A funny part is when they are singing with telephone stands and using them as guitars. They are all sung acapella which is pretty impressive. Greg Tannahill and Nancy Wallinger (now Zamit) mostly led these, I think Johnathan Sayer led one, but Greg and Nancy's voices stand out during the songs, especially Nancy. As I said before the songs that she led completely blew us away. My Mum turned to look at me and we both mouthed 'wow'. We weren't expecting it first off because we didn't know they would be singing live as much as they did, but then she was as good, if not better than lots of the performers we have seen in the big West End musicals. Try and catch her in it just to hear her perform those songs if nothing else.

The set is another thing that stands out for this play. Lots of it is pretty standard, but there are a few key features essential to the play. The first is the fold up bed, which as you would expect, causes some characters a few issues. Another is the air vents above the stage. Lots of the work on wires happens from them and it is quite fun to have to look up to the ceiling to watch the cast and have them virtually on top of you! Therefore, I wouldn't sit on the front row as this part might be quite tricky or uncomfortable to watch. The other comes from a scene where you are supposed to be seeing it from the point of view of the character in the air vents, so you are looking down at the bank office floor. Therefore, two of the characters in the banks are on wires sitting on chairs behind desks that are actually on the back wall of the stage. It is very difficult to explain! It is confusing when you first see it as well and takes a bit of getting used to. Lots of laughs come from this scene with things dropping, characters trying to move around on the wall and things appearing to defy the laws of gravity and physics! I think along with the charade scene, this is my favourite. Back to seating, if you sit on the end of aisles you might miss a few things that happen through a window or door at certain points, but it isn't too much of a problem.

Shout out to the lighting which is fun to watch at points, especially when they are doing the car/bike chases, which is also a clever use of props, such as torches in a laundry trolley becoming a car or a desk chair becoming a motorbike. All of this is created by the cast members too with minimal props which is something quite unique in shows today. The costumes are 1950s office style so nothing really flashy, but they don't need to be in this play and they all work well together. This show also had no sound issues or issues with special effects which has happened a few times at other shows. There are loud gun shots if people are a bit nervous of them but most of the time you can prepare yourself. My sister jumps at everything and didn't fail to do so in this!

We had one "blooper" in September when Sam's glasses flew of the stage and Dave who plays Sam tried and failed to catch them. They were then passed back through the audience onto the stage and he broke character to shake the guys hand and stopped the play for a moment. Henry Shields was on the stage at this point as well and when Dave returned to his spot opposite him he replied with "what the heck was that" to which Dave replied with "my guardian angel" and then along with Ellie who was also on stage had a little laugh out of character for a moment. I personally love things like that as they are unique to that audience and remind you it is live theatre and they are real people up there and they can't just do another take like on TV! It gives you a funny memory as well.

The only thing I noticed that was different from September to November was that when a seagull died (odd I know but it makes sense once you've seen it!) he was placed into a medical box, which then is needed towards the end of the play so when it is opened, guess what's inside instead of what they need! I don't know if it has been taken about for good or what, let me know if you've seen it recently if that was in it or not.

One last thing to mention is the programme, most of these are usually pretty standard and boring but this one has a few extras in it. You get a history of the company and also a mock newspaper. It makes no sense what so ever before the play, but after it virtually every story/advert is related to the play and is funny. There's also a nod to the Play That Goes Wrong in there! So thanks for that, it kept us entertained on the train home!

Overall, this play is clever and very very funny. The cast members all bring their own talents to the characters and I think with this group it especially works very well as they play off each other brilliantly and you can tell they are having a great time as well. The characters and script alone are excellent though, so when the original cast leaves I can't see it getting any less funny. It is a great feel good, relaxed night at the theatre, nothing serious where you can go and forget about any stresses in your life and have a good laugh. It is suitable for anyone I think, (it's recommended for kids 11+ for a few little hints to things) but my family all enjoyed it as did my friends and as I said we all have very different senses of humor and it is very difficult to find something that we all enjoy. I can't recommend seeing this play enough. It is unusual for me to recommended things to my friends as I get a bit embarrassed telling them what I've enjoyed at the theatre, even though they know I'm a theatre nerd, but I could't resist with this one and somehow knew they would love it and we would have a great time together. They now what to see the other productions by Mischief Theatre so I need to get onto that. I'm watching Peter Pan Goes Wrong with one of them at least at Christmas so I think we will probably see that live next year now.

Anyway, I hope you take a trip to see this show and have a great time!

Outside of the Criterion Theatre

As always, here's the link for tickets:

https://tickets.mischieftheatre.co.uk/city/2957-london/38WI-the-comedy-about-a-bank-robbery/