Review: Good Little Boy, Wardrobe Theatre

James Prescott, January 28, 2015

Billed as ‘a darkly comic tale about morality, masculinity and Monopoly’, this latest outing from noted comedy stable The Sitcom Trials follows tells the nervous (and wonderfully camp) school caretaker George and his desperate attempts to win back his bored, adulterous wife.

Local comedian Lewis Cook supplies the script with his delightfully endless loop of witty callbacks, while high jinks such as the description of an extra-marital affair as a ‘love lasagne’ in which he plays the Bolognese and she the béchamel seem to scream for a television adaptation.

The cast and creative team demonstrate the magic that can be achieved in a room above a pub. The play’s funnier aspects, however, do well not to supplant the subtle character renditions and intriguing plot.

The hilarious situations serve to make the more tender moments all the more poignant, while the miserable reality of certain situations leaves the audience in stunned silence. Beneath the comedy, the play has a serious import – to expose the grim underbelly of modern suburban living.

The writing might not be considered wholly original, as one scene in which our hero meekly purchases condoms on behalf of his wife’s new love bears a striking resemblance to Peep Show Season 2, episode 5.

There is, however, some exhaustive attention to detail from the props department while, on the acting side, Ian Halverson’s portrayal of Stuart the schoolteacher nets by far the most laughs – it would lift the show to see the other actors pouring as much enthusiasm into their performances.

Good Little Boy runs until Friday, January 30 at The Wardrobe Theatre. For more info, see our listing here.

If you would like to create the next great British situation comedy, The Sitcom Trials is an opportunity for your sitcom to be seen live.

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