Mr Whatnot - 50th Anniversary Production

Synopsis

In this hilarious fish-out-of-water tale, a na?ve but highly imaginative piano tuner is summoned to the stately home of Lord and Lady Slingsby-Craddock. A case of mistaken identity leads to an increasingly surreal series of encounters over a summer weekend of tennis matches and afternoon tea, as Mr Whatnot attempts to win the affections of their debutante daughter Amanda. Think Mr Bean goes to Downton.

Our Review:

20 March 2013

What on earth is one to make of this early curiosity from the modern master of comedy, Alan Ayckbourn? Now fifty years old, this piece of extended visual gaggery – described by director Cal McCrystal as “this odd little play and its eccentric personages” – is almost impossible to describe, let alone perform.

Predating, and yet clearly foreshadowing, the likes of Monty Python, Mr Bean and even the League of Gentlemen, it’s a real mish-mash of surreal comedy, slapstick physicality and silent movie tribute.

Superficially, the plot (such as it is) follows mute piano tuner Mint – Mr Whatnot – as he pays a visit to Craddock Grange, an outrageous old-fashioned and stereotyped country house dwelt in by the aristocratic Lord Slingsby-Craddock and his one-dimensional family. Mr Whatnot promptly falls for pretty-but-dim daughter Amanda and wreaks havoc among the household as he attempts to win her away from her intended, the lisping toff Cecil.

All this cardboard-cutout tosh merely s...

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