Good Little Boy - excellent review

This review for Lewis Cook's Good Little Boy, just in from Bristol 24/7:

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.

Band For Life - Michael Brown, new on Youtube

Freshly unearthed from the vaults and uploaded to Youtube, a classic from the very early days of The Sitcom Trials - Band For Life performing Michael Brown.

From an early incarnation of The Sitcom Trials, in Bristol 1997, a rare musical sitcom Band For Life features the song Michael Brown. With an early appearance by Inbetweeners creator-to-be Iain Morris, then a student at Bristol University. Also features Helen Stone on vocals, Darren Hoskins, Rob Hughes, Gareth Hughes, Edward Grassby, Barnaby Curtis, Jim Warren and Kev F Sutherland.

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.

Good Little Boy - a new play from The Sitcom Trials

The Sitcom Trials Presents:

Sit Still. Keep Quiet. Play Nicely

Good Little Boy

A One-Act Comedy

by Lewis Cook

Mild-mannered school janitor George is desperate to win back his estranged wife, the breathtakingly self-absorbed Lesley. But she is inexplicably attracted to a cruel and loathsome lay-about, and George finds himself loveless, homeless and hopeless. 

Driven to despair and beset by loneliness, George finally reaches breaking point and, in a moment of madness, he lashes out with grave consequences. As events spiral out of control, George finds his Jenga tower of deception becoming ever more precarious.

A darkly hilarious examination of infidelity, morality and Monopoly, Good Little Boy is a funny and quirky new play from the team behind The Sitcom Trials, Checkpoint Dave, and Barbara & Jeffrey.

Good Little Boy is at the Wardrobe Theatre, above The White Bear, St Michaels Hill Bristol, from the 26th - 30th January 2015. Tickets and details here.

Writer Lewis Cook was a runner up in the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe So You Think You Write Funny? competition, held at the prestigious Gilded Balloon. A stalwart of the Sitcom Trials team – a competition he won twice – Lewis is one half of the double-act Cook and Davies, whose acclaimed sketch show Planet Earth And All Who Sailed In Her took the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe by storm.

Sitcom Trials 10th Anniversary season revisited

At this time 5 years ago, The Sitcom Trials was enjoying its 10th anniversary season at the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Its Grand Final looked a bit like this...



The heats and semi-final ran for eight weeks, under the aegis of producer James Parker, whose praise I am happy to sing again. No-one before or since has run such an intense season of the Trials, which entailed two performances a night (the only way to break even in the 50 seater studio theatre).

In this video, some of the judges from 2009's Sitcom Trials season give their tips on writing comedy. Including David (TV Burp) Quantick, Iain (Inbetweeners) Morris, Carrie (News Quiz) Quinlan, Marc (How Not To Write A Sitcom) Blake, Richard (Whose Line..?) Vranch, Nev (Dead Ringers) Fountain and Daniel (also TV Burp) Maier.


Judges that got away include Laura (School Of Comedy) Lawson and Roland (Land Girls) Moore, who appear in the videos from the show but whose clips I lost, and Tom Price, Wanda Opalinska and Bill Dare all of whom I interviewed having pressed pause instead of record.

You can read much more about, and see clips of, the Sitcom Trials 10th Anniversary Season in blogs from the opening night, the semi-finals and all points inbetween. Parts of them are excellent.

There are plans afoot for the revival of the Sitcom Trials in Bristol and Manchester in 2015, so watch this space for news.

The Original Official Sitcom Trials has been running since 1999, on stage in Bristol, London, Edinburgh, nationally and internationally. It ran at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2013 and 2016, and enjoyed an 8 week run on ITV in 2003. The last Sitcom Trials tournament had heats in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, London and Cardiff with its grand final at the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh 2016. 

Fall Girl in London

Oh hello!

Did you miss Fall girl by Sitcom Trials winner Rosie Holt at the Gilded Balloon this August?

 The sad, happy, silly, catchy, filthy, fluffy, dark, cringy, yet ultimately uplifting tale of being scammed in the city?

 

 You did miss it?!  And as a result have you felt strangely bereft, as if you are missing some fundamental piece of joy that you didn't realise you truly needed until now?? 

You saw it?!  Yet have you been dying to revisit its bonkers, toe-tapping, tune humming, giggle-making universe just one last time???

YOU ARE IN LUCK! Fall girl is back in London!

 

To get tickets (£9.50 (£7.50 concessions)) visit the Canal Cafe website here:
http://www.canalcafetheatre.com/EventPage.php?EventId=29907

To find out more about Fall Girl visit our website here: http://www.fallgirl.co.uk/

Come along and be as happy as Hayley in the picture above!

The Fall Girl team xxx

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.

Sitcom Trials slight return in Cardiff

The Sitcom Trials made a small return of sorts last night when Bristol Alumni Simon Winkler and Jason Stevens staged a mini-Trials for the guests at Tammy's birthday and graduation party. With the able assistance of actresses Liz Morgan (the voice of Destiny Angel in Captain Scarlet, now you ask) and Pameli Bentham, they performed classic Trials script Man's Best Friend by Roland Moore, to the amusement of a small crowd of family and friends. Because of pressure of time, they didn't actually do the Trials format, but this was a pleasant nostalgic throwback from the team who'd had such fun doing the Trials circa 2005.

As you can see from the photo, fellow Trials graduates The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre also performed. And as you can also also see, the lighting was from LED lights which always photograph in that weird "blue is the new black" way. How does that work?

Best comedy shows in Vegas

One of the best known places in the world to gamble is the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Here hundreds of casinos are congregated in one place making it quite easy to enjoy gambling in numerous venues while on holiday. Additionally, the Vegas casinos also offer numerous other entertainment options for their guests, a somewhat important addition given that casino games are offered online nowadays at sites like River Belle. One of these includes comedy shows. Many casinos offer their own as part of their overall entertainment package.

Aces of Comedy is one of the best comedy shows. Located at the Mirage Casino, this particular show has won awards over the years. Top tier comedians perform here, many well-known names. For instance, Ron White, Wayne Brady, Kathy Griffin, Jay Leno and Ray Romano are just a few of the performers who have been showcased at the Aces of Comedy.

The Improv at Harrah’s Las Vegas is another place that visitors should go to if they want amusing entertainment. This show has been voted number one year after year. There are two shows every night which makes it easy to fit in some humour around one’s casino gambling time. The first show commences at 8:30 pm and the second at 10:00 pm. Three comedians perform every show and often will stick around after to visit with guests and sign autographs.

A third comedy show to visit while in Las Vegas is Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand. Headliner Brad Garrett appears here frequently along with guests. Shows last for 90 minutes and begin daily at 8:00 pm. Ticket prices vary and generally are cheaper on the dates that Brad Garrett isn’t scheduled to perform. When Brad is performing, he can often be found at the front door prior to shows greeting his guests. The venue was built specifically for this purpose and is quite new.

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.

Details of new shows, and our ongoing competition, are to be found here at sitcomtrials.co.uk and on Twitter and Facebook.

See the Best of The Sitcom Trials videos, here.