9.03°C Fast becoming a staple of the New Year theatre kick-off at the Headgate Theatre, this is the third year in a row I’ve seen Common Ground Theatre Company, masters of inspired silliness, on tour here, and it has become an essential antidote to the post-festive blues. Irreverent and witty, their spoofs of classic genres have audiences in fits of laughter, with double entendres spiralling into triple wordplay that delights and unites generations.
Alongside their affectionate skewering of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and characters, the company turn their attention to the Victorian fad for spas and unusual treatments. It was a period that gave us mummy powder, cocaine tooth drops and tobacco smoke enemas, and the team have enormous fun lampooning this world at the Queasy Pines Sanatorium, high in the Sproughton Mountains near Ipswich. The plot is wild and hilarious, involving multiple costume changes and a very fishy tale indeed.
The company make the comedy look effortless. Dick Mainwaring, playing Dr Watson for the fourth time, is perfect in the role, grounding the silliness with just enough seriousness, while always letting us see the twinkle in his eye when mishaps occur. Julian Harries never fails to hit the comic heights, his misplaced gravitas as Sherlock Holmes delivered with pinpoint timing and impressive improvisation when things inevitably go awry.
Multi-roling is embraced with boundless joy by Joseph Aylward, whose particularly flatulent Nurse Francine is a memorably explosive highlight, and Bewlay Dean Stanton proves himself a Swiss Army knife of an actor, seamlessly switching between characters while also providing musical accompaniment. Director and composer Pat Whymark somehow keeps the mayhem under control, delivering clever, pun-filled lyrics, with “come to Queasy Pines to get douched and spruced” standing out as a particularly memorable line. The music gives the whole production a delightful Music Hall feel.
Banish those winter blues and catch this outstanding company. The show joyfully combines panto, thriller, spoof and Carry On humour into one glorious evening. Frankly, the NHS should prescribe it as a cure; there’s no need for a far more expensive spa day.
Review by Paul T. Davies, Theatre Editor, Keep Colchester Cool
At the Headgate Theatre until 7 January Sherlock Holmes Smells Evil at Headgate Theatre event tickets from TicketSource
Tour schedule here: Xmas Show 25-26 | commongroundtc
