Reader Reviews
Fuddy Meers (Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I saw this last night with an audience who all seemed to be having a great laugh. I can understand why some critics wouldn't get it, but it is definitely a great show for younger audiences who enjoy black and often (hoorah!) terribly un-PC humour. If you like things like Six Feet Under or, yes, the Coen Brothers, I think you'll really enjoy it. In any case, do spread the word. It deserves to be an underground hit. Also, I thought all of the cast were quite good. To single a few out: Katie Finneran pitched the perplexed but good-natured amnesiac perfectly and Julia McKenzie and Matthew Lillard were both very funny and very touching as, respectively, a mother who lost proper speech after a stroke and an escaped con dependent on a puppet for comfort and communication. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.69.37.108) | 03 Jun 04 |
| Saw this show last night. Very funny in a Coen Brothers kind of way. Really twisted and sick. Just my cup of tea. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (63.159.124.183) | 03 Jun 04 |
| Really liked this show. Especially Julia Mackenzie and the boy who played the troubled son. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (63.159.209.209) | 02 Jun 04 |
| APALLING CRUD. NOT FUDDY AT ALL. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.3.119.218) | 02 Jun 04 |
| Absolutely fantastic! A great evening of fun and frolics! Do not miss this play!! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.150.100.122) | 01 Jun 04 |
| Good, light-hearted fun. Matthew Lillard on top form and the rest of the cast weren't far behind. Recommended. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.169.51.254) | 01 Jun 04 |
| A terrible play and a very poor production. I find it very odd that there are so many 5 star reviews - particularly as so many were sent on the same day. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.93.34.14) | 30 May 04 |
| Anyone who gives this show less than 4 stars didn't see the same show as us! Excellent comic timing, thought provoking situation, Julia McKenzie on topmost form... when we weren't laughing we were commiserating with the characters' plight. Would recommend heartily - and it got a big cheer! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (172.186.80.57) | 30 May 04 |
| This play has had more response than any other on the site. And 11 people have written a 5 star review despite the press reviews being so bad. Something stinks here or am I being too suspicious? How can anyone say that this production offers the best in London theatre? I'm with the national critics on this one. Pile of rubbish and not at all Fuddy. Lame duck and typical of the Art's theatre. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.41.184.144) | 28 May 04 |
| I thought this production was great, very enjoyable. The characters were all extreme but also totally believable. There was perfect logic in the mad scenario. Julia McKenzie was brilliant. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.77.27.6) | 27 May 04 |
| Wow, no one seems to be in the middle on this. My husband and I attended press night and had the most fun we've had in a theather in a long time. I have to say, pretty much everyone that night was having a great laugh. I'm very suprised at the range of reactions on here. Very interesting. I guess you'll either love it or hate it. We happily loved it. Very different, and very funny. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.120.56.45) | 27 May 04 |
| awful awful awful.. and horrible set too !! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.34.10.193) | 27 May 04 |
| Anyone that left at the interval must a theatrical ignoramus, sure it isnt Shakespeare, but the cast work fantastically as an ensemble, in a play where this gradually fall into place in the mind of the Kate Finneran (the young lady with amnesia) which leads to a thought provoking and poigniant conclusion. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.64.208.167) | 27 May 04 |
| If you want a very different and enjoyable night at the theatre then this is the play for you. It is unlike anything else currently on offer in the West End. The excellent cast work well an ensemble, especially Julia Mckenzie as a stroke victim who possible has the most difficult part! Matthew Lillard's comic timing with his "muppet-esq" puppet is fantastic. The play itself is an innovative storyline where nothing is what it seems and keeps you guessing till the final moment when this degenerate from mild chaos to utter madness. All told it is a very enjoyable night which will keep you thinking long fter the final curtain. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.64.208.167) | 27 May 04 |
| Left in the interval. Stunned. Maybe it gets better in the second half but we couldn't risk it. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 27 May 04 |
| I'm stunned at the vitirol on this play. My friends and I had a wonderful time. What a bunch of old grumps. Very very funny for us. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.204.124.130) | 27 May 04 |
| Anyone giving this a 5 star review must work on the show! Are you kidding? Left half way through and will never get that hour back. What a bad production of a dumb play. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.41.184.144) | 27 May 04 |
| I think it's sad that this one's taken such a beating. It was so unplausable but that's what I liked about it - something you could really get carried away with. It's worth seeing just for the final moments and the effect it has on you as the lights fade. If comps or a very good deal swings your way, don't miss it. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.69.37.108) | 27 May 04 |
| I meant to give it none not three stars. Sorry.(see last review) There is no way to give zero unfortunately. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 26 May 04 |
| I love black comedy but this wasn't black it was grey. I wish I could forget it but I fear it will stay with me forever. The muppet & the stroke victim were the worst. abysmal. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 26 May 04 |
| Julia Mackenzie's comic turn as a stroke victim had us in fits of laughter afterwards but as the time we were stunned into silence. Takes bad taste to a whole new level. Horrific. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 26 May 04 |
| Ghastly. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 26 May 04 |
| Fuddy Meers is by far the worst thing I've seen in years - and I've seen some stinkers. Great actors drown in a sea of shouting, pathetic humour, a muppet and a stroke victim. In fact we laughed so much about it over dinner at J Sheekey we had a brilliant night. Breathtakingly bad. An assault in play form. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.130.133.7) | 26 May 04 |
| Why? - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.41.184.144) | 26 May 04 |
| What a mess. Shame. It looked like it was going to be great too. Was looking forward to it. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.41.184.144) | 26 May 04 |
| brilliant fun, manic mayhem, superb cast. no wonder the person who left in the interval didnt like it...you need the second half to put all the pices together. recommend to anyone with an open mind and the ability to laugh! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.36.146.44) | 25 May 04 |
| This is an excellent production of a very entertaining play. If you like the kind of surreal black comedy contained in 'Fuddy Meers' then you will love this production. If on the other hand you are somewhat out of touch with post-modernist irony and farce then you will not. Over the last few years Birmingham Repertory Theatre has produced very few theatre productions of note, but this is one of them - probably the finest production since Buffini's Silence was put on some years ago. The theatre is definitely heading in the right direction under Jonathan Church, with the general standard of productions now significantly improved and with the use of such fine and distinctive actors as Tara Fitzgerald, Matthew Lillard, and of course the great Peter Holdway. I only hope that the standards now reached by the Rep will be maintained and continue to rise. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (212.248.226.1) | 25 May 04 |
| Terrically funny. Great cast. And very sweet at the end. I loved it. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.134.87.133) | 25 May 04 |
| Really, really bad. Very pretentious and not funny at all. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.122.136.192) | 25 May 04 |
| i saw this show in b,ham thought it was great a real fab ,funny night out really talented cast , - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.6.139.13) | 20 May 04 |
| i saw this show in b,ham thought it was great a real fab ,funny night out really talented cast , - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.6.139.13) | 20 May 04 |
| I saw it in London and found the whole thing a fun time. Katie Finneran is especially good. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (63.159.188.51) | 17 May 04 |
| A waste of a talented cast - I left in the interval - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.158.156.165) | 17 May 04 |
| Katie Finneran should win an Olivier for this. Her innocence is astounding. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.92.194.16) | 16 May 04 |
| Just saw it in London and thought it was absolutely dreadful. Badly written, sometimes wanting to be Joe Orton, sometimes Tarantino kind of thing but just dying in the attempt. Good cast but wasted apart from the Scooby Doo guy who is just terrible. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (81.131.190.56) | 15 May 04 |
| This production is not without its flaws, but five stars for entertainment value. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.93.34.14) | 09 May 04 |
