Manchester Theatre News & Reviews

REVIEW - Mischief have absolutely smashed their first musical - Thespians is simply a show you need to see!

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We were invited to HOME in Manchester to see Thespians. Read what our reviewer Karen Ryder had to say about this hilarious production...

Mischief Theatre are back! And this time they have jazz hands! Bringing their own unique brand of utter chaos, stupendous silliness, and wonderful wit, Mischief have absolutely smashed their first musical! And knowing the ambition and ingenuity of this global theatre company, it won’t be their last! Thespians: Greece The Musical (but not that one) is bustling and brimming with Mischief Theatre personality as they make you belly laugh, continually surprise you, perform rip-roaring slapstick and physical theatre that is timed to perfection with jaw dropping, air gasping, danger, and pack every nook and cranny of their show with puns, jokes, and joy! Thespians is an absolute must for any Mischief Theatre fans, though to be fair, that goes without saying, as once you have seen one of their shows, there is no going back! You are a fan for life! So, to all those yet to experience the indescribable rush of electric adrenaline, the jaw aching laughter, and the release of letting go and having unadulterated fun, find your inner mischief and join the millions of fans worldwide that simply can’t get enough of the phenomenon that is Mischief Theatre!

Thespians takes us back to the midst of Ikaria, a small, scarcely populated island in ancient Greece. Ikaria is home to brother and sister Thespis and Poly, and well, only a few other people, namely Adonis, Melampus, and Atlas! But their teeny home is being devastated by drought and so they find themselves backed into a bizarre adventure that leads them to Athens to compete in a lethal prayer competition. Along the way, they somehow find themselves creating the performance art of acting and quickly discover how to use it to their advantage, with misdirection, impersonation, and hilarious results. Anyone who has ever attended a drama class or loved the art form will find additional Easter eggs throughout, from drama class warm up activities, to film, theatre, and musicals references, and even a nod to hard working swings and understudies. As you journey back to Ancient Greece in 534BC, expect all the delicious ingredients that make Mischief so instantly recognisable such as physical comedy, puns, one liners, and the unexpected, all wrapped up in a brand new musical! As the Ikaria inhabitants ‘walk in someone else’s sandals’ and take on The Tyrant in an impossible and intriguing turn of events, they may just discover that this journey is life changing in more ways than one!

As with every Mischief show, Thespians allows each character to shine with their own story and purpose. None are there to simply support, and so all are written with their personal mini hero’s story. This means we get time with each character, understanding them a little better and witnessing their challenges and potential for change. Of course, in a Mischief show, this isn’t as serious as it sounds, but it is woven into the story providing heart, hope, and apparently haberdasheries! The puns relating to all things Greece are endless, some make you groan with delight at their ‘dad joke’ nature, and others make you burst out laughing at their inventiveness and silliness. I personally loved the name of the cat – Oedipus – puss! There is also plenty of Greek history thrown into the show too, snippets of tales of Gods, myths, and legends, that fascinate and educate. And the loving references to film, theatre, and popular culture is an explosion of joy, whether they appear through song, parody, impersonation, or riff, you can spot a wide range of moments from Wicked, Notting Hill, Cats, Phantom Of The Opera, Chicago and even The Chuckle Brothers with a brilliant Greek exit of “To me-us, to you-us.”

With book and lyrics by Mischief founding member Jonathan Sayer and music and lyrics by Mischief favourite Ed Zanders, the expectations for Thespians were higher than Mount Olympus, but these two Gods of comedy have delivered musical perfection to us mere mortals! The book is jam packed with both humour and heart and is beautifully driven by character development rather than a complicated plot, making it a relaxing and engaging watch that has created space for its cornucopia of jokes and humour. The song lyrics are beautifully clever, full of wit, sharpness and of course silliness, and are put to fabulous music that stirs a variety of emotions from sheer joy, to laughter, to a tug on the heart strings. Directed by Rob Grant, the detail to character is wonderful and it truly felt like every performer had their own space to breathe on stage. It was a stunningly respectful show where everyone was equal, and they truly had taken the time to walk in each others sandals. Melody Sinclair has choreographed to match this sentiment, with brilliant ensemble numbers including kick lines, and lovingly taken inspiration from other shows to match the parody themes of the script and music, with a fantastic example of this in ‘Old Man Tango’ that has resemblance to Chicago’s ‘Cell Block Tango,’ except this is danced by very old characters that contort their bodies accordingly. It is brilliant! Creative design (Jasmine Swan), lighting (David Howe), and sound (Nick Lodge) completes the illusion by throwing us into ancient Greece, complete with crumbling columns, that are not only designed to move around the stage to create multiple spaces but even light up and flash in time to the music! The lighting washes us with that glorious Greek sunshine before dousing us in thunder and the wrath of The Tyrant, whilst sound brilliantly creates an entire audience full of quips, opinions and directional sound that tricks the actual audience into whipping around to see who is shouting out!

The casting for this show is inspired! An incredibly strong team who wow in musical comedy, and play off of each other like they have known each other since primary school! James Spence (Unfortunate) plays the ambitious and vein Thespis, who dreams big and wants more than he currently has. His performance is so endearing that despite the characters many flaws, you can’t help but cheer him on and want the best for this unlikely hero. He pitches everything with an air of warmth and humanity rather than arrogance so we understand Thespis’s desire to make and want something more of himself and his addiction to being adored. It is a loving performance accompanied by a million dollar smile! Claire-Marie Hall (Operation Mincemeat, Les Mis, The King And I) is our more reliable and capable Poly, even if she doesn’t recognise these capabilities in herself. She beautifully balances out Thespis’s theatrical side with a hard dose of reality and this creates some brilliant moments of humour with their opposing personalities, making them a fabulous pairing. Claire-Marie Hall gives us such a transformation of character, starting out serious and sullen, ending silly and sizzling, that it is testament to her sensational skills!

Marc Pickering (Calander Girls, The Elephant Man, Bleak Expectation) as Adonis is King of the physical and vocal comedy! Every time he spoke, I wanted to giggle, the vocal gymnastics were absolutely fantastic and equally matched by his use of facial expressions and physical stances. Always switched on, a simple raised eyebrow or eyeroll timed to perfection could corpse the audience as he reacted to what was playing out before him, and his ongoing gag of ‘trust fall’ was physical comedy gold! He played this self-adoring character with such joy that whilst it was clear the other characters were not so fond of him, to watch he was an Olympian and turned out to be my favourite character! We can’t mention Mia Jerome’s (The Manningtree Witches, Romeo & Juliet, Small Wonders) performance as Melampus, without mentioning her leading ‘The Old Man Tango’ – an absolute highlight of the entire show and one that had everybody laughing and dying to join in! She played her visions with a lightning switch in character, and mixed in plenty of heart, making us understand why she was the elder of the group and the chosen director as warmth radiated out of her, despite her questionable treatment of Atlas at the start of the story.

Luke Latchman (Cinderella, 42 Balloons, Sunset Boulevard) is Atlas who plays the love struck, moral compass of the show with a wonderful innocence and purity. He is the unsung hero and backbone of the group, keeping them in check with his insatiable memory of the rules, and even being the catalyst to invent acting with his wholesome idealism to walk in someone else’s sandals in order to understand them better and find peace. He brings a calming energy to the stage amidst all the chaos and oozes love and compassion, making it a magnetic performance throughout. Rhys Taylor (Millennials, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, The Book Of Mormon) is The Tyrant and they demand the stage whenever they enter, creating presence, atmosphere, and the unexpected chaos so in tune with Mischief! Another vocal masterclass of a performance, changing delivery with skilled ease to wow us time and time again, making surprise their plaything. Norma Desmond has nothing on The Tyrant and as we eventually got to walk in their sandals too and discover why their life was rubbish, we were treated to yet another vocal switch, and were raptured by the emotional shift. Absolutely fantastic and I have to say – what a singer! Just wow!

Our entire Greek chorus is multi-rolled by the insatiable and unstoppable duo of Matt Cavendish (numerous Mischief shows inc The Comedy About Spies, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Play That Goes Wrong,) and Allie Dart (Unfortunate, The Comedy About Spies, 2:22 A Ghost Story). Also our Bard and Rhapsodes, they don’t let up for a second with their brilliant interplay, inventing new characters, accents, jokes, one-liners, and even set changes galore! It is inspiring, they make you feel exhausted just watching them, and they embody the perfect duo. I couldn’t tell you how many character they play for it is a lot, and they give equal energy, gumption, and hilarity to each one, often switched and delivered at lightning speed. I literally have no idea how they perform this show with such stamina day after day! Our adorable chorus line are Ashley Tucker (Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, Pride & Prejudice Sort Of, Baskerville), Josh Patel-Foster (Oliver, Roman Holiday, Aladdin), and Curtis Patrick (Young Frankenstein, A Streetcar Named Desire, Pretty Woman The Musical) who compliment and complete this show with their brilliant and numerous characters and engage the audience by executing the cheesy and witty showbiz choreography to perfection.

Thespians is not only everything you would hope and wish for from a Mischief Theatre show, but its musical theatre glow up has created a whole new playground for them to explore with the inclusion of clever, catchy, and showbiz song and dance routines! They have found a new way to fit their own brief of being serious about silliness and this Manchester audience were lapping it up! With over ten years of box office smash plays in the West End and having taken the world by storm with award-winning stage, screen, and beyond productions, Mischief Theatre truly are the real deal and it is always a very special occasion when they are in town, especially when this particular show of Thespians is written by founding member and creative director Jonathan Sayer, who also just happens to be a Mancunian! Their brand of ridiculous escapism is alive and kicking once more, providing endless humour, mayhem and mishaps, and the perfect excuse to get yourselves out of your funk and down to the theatre! There really is no reason not to watch this show, other than you can’t get a ticket, because such is the popularity of Mischief Theatre, they are like gold dust! So don’t hesitate, stop myth-behaving and book now because you simply ‘Odyssey’ this show! Opa!

WE SCORE THESPIANS...