Review: THREE MEN IN A BOAT, Rose Theatre Kingston
Photo credit: Helen Murray
Panto season has arrived early at Kingston, where this new version of Three Men in a Boat is aptly described by the theatre as riotous. From throwing apples at the audience to a pitched battle with a flock of fluffy swans, this is an eminently silly adaptation which is greatly enjoyable once audiences accept its inspired lunacy.
The Rose at Kingston is an ideal setting too: the story begins and ends in the city and takes place up and down the river that flows past the venue. All the key set pieces are there, from the plaster trout to the rat stew, and from the pig carcass to the bagpipes. The combination of an experienced cast and a highly skilled creative team, allied to some inventive stagecraft, results in a very funny evening.
Among the hapless human trio on board, Richard David-Caine is an actor whose mere physical presence creates humour and who can indicate exasperation one moment and flirtation the next. Equally impressive and nicely contrasted is Jonny Weldon in pink trousers and rainbow jacket as the more bumptious member of the trio, always claiming more than he should and with a high energy performance opposite the more languorous David-Caine.
Completing the trio as Harris is Bronté Barbé, more often seen in musical theatre but here turning in a skilled - and eminently Edwardian - performance. She handles the dialogue well too and is always watchable. These three talented actors are then acted off the stage by Montmorency the dog, in the hands of puppeteer Calum Donald-Bruce. Montmorency’s sudden disappearance into the river is a great moment which is then topped by the line that follows. All of the cast excel at working directly with the audience, throwing in some excellent lines for press night.
Director Christopher Haydon, working with comedy consultant John Nicholson, has created something quite special from Al Smith’s deft adaptation. Not only has the piece been given a full-scale production with double revolve, a trap, pyrotechnics and an end of the pier style set of light-fringed portals (Simon Kenny) which seems to be sinking into the river (and the backcloth did begin to disintegrate on press night), there is original music too. Grant Olding contributes a series of songs, aiming at a music hall feel, although many of them could have come straight out of a lost G&S production.
The songs are clever, well-delivered by the hard-working cast, and accompanied by inventive choreography from Simon Hardwick. They do tend to interrupt the narrative a little, with most of them taking place as front-cloth scenes in front of the tabs while the set is changed, but it seems churlish to quibble at an embarrassment of riches.
Smith also includes some of the more philosophical interludes from the book and these episodes work less well, as they do in the book for the modern reader. The exception is the joyful moment when Montmorency has his say.
We quickly move on to the next set piece however, whether that be a boating mishap, ducks, squirrels, inept camping or impersonating a trio of Himalayan contortionists. Occasionally, there is a feeling that the team have thrown everything they can think of at the production; the swan battle is a bit desperate and the well-delivered tongue twister routine goes on a little too long. It was the sort of production where the onstage arrival of a Stage Manager to deal with a misbehaving prop was just as funny if unplanned as if it was intended.
These are small points of detail however, and most of the audience are happy to sit back and enjoy the chaos around them. Three Men in a Boat is a joyful couple of hours of late summer fun: get yourself to Kingston and revel in it as this lengthy summer continues, and delight in the combination of clever acting, skilled direction and impressive stagecraft.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Chris Abbott
Three Men in a Boat plays at Rose Theatre Kingston until 10 October, with further info here.