Good Luck, Playhouse, with this great new comedy

DAFT, hilarious, a terrific cheerer-upper. That’s Good Luck Studio, on at the Playhouse till November 5. And who doesn’t need to lose themselves in laughter right now amid the encircling gloom?

The set is a children’s TV programme, featuring a singing dragon, a frog puppet and a princess dressed as a pineapple, plus a Brian Blessed-style over-the-top wicked king bellowing atop a castle turret, and there’s plenty of panto-style slapstick. 

But it’s not for the kiddies. There’s a darker side to this farce, involving a rejected actor with a gun. And a lot of the jokes are definitely for adult ears.

It’s from the team behind those ‘Play That Goes Wrong’ comedies – described in the Telegraph as “the funniest theatre troupe in Britain”.

The opening few minutes were a bit slow with the necessary scene-setting but soon calamity started piling on calamity, and it got so silly that the audience were quite carried away with it, and many were on their feet applauding at the end.

I was surprised to find one of my favourite comedians, Tom Walker – better known by millions for his spoof news reports as ranting political correspondent Jonathan Pie – playing the absolutely horrible director, Andy, to perfection. Having loved a couple of his live solo shows, I’d never have expected to see him in an ensemble like this, but this was a real team effort, and it worked brilliantly.

A special mention also for Greg Tannahill as first aider Kevin, and an inspired scene in which he superglues his trousers. Doesn’t sound much when you put it like that, but you have to have been there.

Picture by Pamela Raith

Another little gem from Salisbury playwright Barney Norris

IT’S hard to categorise The Wellspring, and maybe that’s why there was a disappointingly small audience for the beginning of its brief run at the Playhouse yesterday.

Mass entertainment it most certainly isn’t, but this latest offering from Salisbury playwright Barney Norris – described by him as a ‘memory cycle’ - is moving, entertaining and thought-provoking. 
It’s very brave to reveal the vulnerability that Barney in particular shares as he and his dad, pianist and composer David Owen Norris, in turn look back on events either humorous or traumatic from their early lives, revealing how after a family break-up they have managed to create a bond that works for them, and what brought them individually to where they are now. This particular onlooker was completely drawn in.
As always with Barney, there’s a lot about home, the continuing search for it and what it means. His dad seems altogether more comfortable with where he’s at.
The beautiful piano interludes and haunting folk songs, absorbing in their own right, are finely judged to both underline and lighten the intensity of the spoken words, which is just as well or there are points where you might feel close to tears.
Having said which, there are plenty of the self-deprecating, rueful, smiley moments that Barney does so well, and his dad’s a born raconteur.
Cleverly set against a backdrop of ancient family cine film, this was a little gem.