one4review | On 23, Aug 2022

Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance One

Until 29th August

Something for the Weekend take us back to the cloisters at Eton School in 1982, when an 18-year-old Boris Johnson took the lead in Richard III, without bothering to learn his lines. Our first view of the stage is of a fellow pupil, taking up a Rees-Mogg pose while reading a magazine on tractors. We know immediately we are in for a rollercoaster of political in-jokes, which indeed we are. The play is set against the backdrop of the Falklands War, and things are starting to look as bad in the South Atlantic as they are for the leading man. Boris is late, much to the consternation of budding director Fran, and Boris’s girlfriend, who has just learnt that he has slept with her sister. Boris arrives, fresh from taking part in a successful debate, and gives us his “complete assurance” that he has learnt his lines and that everything will be alright on the night. However, Boris has attended a dorm party that he shouldn’t have and is in trouble with the headmaster. He also tries to placate his girlfriend, who is brandishing a sword while acting out a scene with him. Can Boris argue his way out of every tricky situation he finds himself in and make the play the success he needs it to be if he is to be appointed captain of the school? Harry Kershaw is excellent as Boris and the play within the play is reminiscent of Michael Frayn’s ‘Noises Off’, as the cast effortlessly switch between backstage and on-stage with hilarious chaos. The energy runs out slightly towards the end, but this is nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable hour of fringe theatre which I would highly recommend catching.

****

Reviewed by Howard

Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance One

16.10 (1hr)

Until 29th August