Edinburgh Fringe theatre review

It’s as if The Play That Goes Wrong went wrong. 

Theatre troupe Say It Again, Sorry? aim to recreate the same sort of farcical chaos that became such a West End smash with their deliberately inept version of the Oscar Wilde classic. But it’s weighed down by heavy use of audience participation which confuses an already convoluted plot as well as exposing the gulf between proper improvisers and ordinary folk giving it a bash.

The production is allegedly thrown into chaos when the actor playing the central role of Jack Worthing fails to show up, so a willing volunteer is recruited: tonight a game chap called Will with something of a Joe Lycett vibe. He’s given instructions and scripts – or sometimes just left to fend for himself - as the play collapses around him.

As the play goes on, other actors abandon their parts, whether in fits of divaish pique, in pursuit of better offers, or just plain drunk – all to the chagrin of the pretentious director, determined to keep the show on track and impress the impresarios he’s certain are watching the livestream.

As each thespian is replaced by other befuddled members of the audience, the joke each time is that they are not equal to the job put before them. It is done with generosity - there’s no aim to truly embarrass the punters – but the spanner-in-the-works premise suffers diminishing returns

Proper farce is meticulously plotted, but here the action judders along as there are ever fewer people on stage who know what they are doing and able to drive the 'show must go on’ ethos that needs to propel the slapstick

One pivotal joke is that the actor playing Algernon is so inept at improvising that he can only act out his part as rehearsed, right down to his positioning on stage, regardless of what’s actually going on. It requires a certain suspension of disbelief that he would be so rigid, but the premise gives the show one of its best moments of physical comedy: a one-man sword fight. Tellingly, this is one of the few scenes not requiring the awkward audience participation that’s the big gimmick.

Other set pieces are hit-and-miss, but even with a few gems, the fact remains that with everything played so big and exaggerated, it becomes cacophonous when it should be crescendoing. 

• The Importance of Being … Earnest? is at The Pleasance at EICC, until Sunday at 2.30pm; plus Saturday at 6.30pm. Then at London's Pleasance Islington from August 19 to 21.

Review date: 13 Aug 2021
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance @ EICC