Going to see 'Funny Peculiar' at Windsor on Monday - anyone seen it?
Stars Craig Gazey (Coronation St).
Funny Peculiar
Saw this on Monday at Windsor.
Given some of the write ups e.g. 'hilarious' 'brilliant' I have to say that overall it didn't hit the spot,
despite superb acting by Craig Gazey, Suzanne Shaw, Vicky Entwistle, Gemma Bissix and Steven Blakeley.
The second half featured an overlong slap-stick sequence with two characters throwing sticky buns at one another. The full frontal nudity scene, hailed as ground-breaking in the play's original west end run, was imo completely superfluous. The big issue for me though, and the most telling, was the lack of laugh out loud moments - there weren't any - except of course for the token 'theatre laugher' who screeched all the way through it.
Mike Stott, Funny Peculiar's author, was a visionary. He took his ordinary Lancashire characters and pushed them to the edge, and he wasn't afraid to stretch boundaries exploring the underground suburbia of the seventies. It's just a shame it wasn't funnier.
Anyone else seen this?
I thought that the first half was a little on the slow side really; a few chuckles, but a lot where I wasn't entirely sure what exactly was going on and what we were supposed to take from it. The second act was far funnier and with a much better pace. I laughed, perhaps not frequently, but certainly heartily, on more than a few occasions.
I was really unsure about Gazey though, I'm sorry to have to say. His range of facial expressions in the very final scene were a joy to behold, worthy of any classic sitcom or high praise you care to throw; but his performance through the rest of the play, particularly in act one, felt very loose and unstructured. He seemed to move almost at random, which really made it difficult to understand his character or work out much about him. I'm not sure if that's down to Gazey for his interpretation, the director, or Stott's writing.
Hi Aaron,
Thanks, it's nice to get someone else's take. It didn't help that the theatre was only half full, which affected the general atmosphere.
Do you agree that that Steven Blakeley supplied most of the comedy with what I thought an excellent performance. It helps that he looks the part, too!
Yes, Blakeley was very good. He's great with slightly dippy characters, and after playing panto there for the last 3 or 4 years, really knows how to play for laughs to the Windsor-sized audience.