'En route to the West End, it looks like the winner it already is'

The Herald Scotland

11-05-2025

King's Theatre, Glasgow
Neil Cooper
Four stars
The irresistible rise of theatre built on the premise of dramatic calamity both on and back stage has come a long way since it was arguably spawned by Michael Frayn's ingenious 1982 farce, Noises Off. Since then, the likes of the tellingly named The Play that Goes Wrong has seen a younger generation of artists take what was once a fringe pursuit into the theatrical mainstream.
So it goes as well for the Say it Again, Sorry? company, whose starting point may be Oscar Wilde's subversive drawing room comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, but who manage to disrupt it with the sort of anarchic intent that might appeal to dear Oscar himself.
All seems well at first in what looks like a decidedly old school wheeze, as man about town Algernon awaits a visitation from his chum Ernest. When his arrival is announced, alas, his absence is more akin to Waiting for Godot. This prompts an intervention from the show's director, who enlists volunteers from the audience, not just to play Ernie, but also unseen love interest Cecily after the actress cast din the role itches the show for a stint on Harry Potter on Ice.
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As Trynity Silk's ingénue Jennifer gets quietly hammered while playing Gwendolen and Judith Amsenga's old luv Eleanor loses her voice while playing Lady Bracknell, this necessitates further emergency measures. By the end of the show, everyone on stage has been co-opted from the crowd for a chaotic cosplay that looks somewhere between a university drama club in-joke, a Crackerjack panto and a reboot of Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game.
Of course, how funny Simon Paris' production of his and Josh King's loose knit script created with the company of seven actors depends on who is willing to join in. It's all well and good on the Edinburgh Fringe, where the show premiered in 2021, where the entire audience is desperate to do a turn, but what of Glasgow in May? Mercifully, Saturday night's show was blessed with a game Cecily and a scientist who had never been to a play before.
Shown the ropes by Josh Haberfield as director Simon Slough, the pair rise to the occasion as they are fed lines somewhere in the vicinity of Wilde's original. Drunken spoonerisms abound from Jennifer regarding hope in souls and shining wit, while Ben Mann as stage manager Josh introduces some physical jerks into the mix whilst manning an impromptu on-stage merch stall. As the show does the rounds en route to the West End, it looks like the winner it already is. What could possibly go wrong?