© Jonathan Keenan
Their adaptation of George Kaufman’s 1930s Broadway hit – You Can’t Take it With You – thrilled Manchester audiences as it was so off the wall you couldn’t fail to fall in love with it.
Their style of theatre mixes slapstick with the sight gags that we have all loved in movies such as Airplane, Top Secret and The Naked Gun trilogy.
Too Clever By Half is their latest and I’m sure it will divide audiences. There will be those that groan their way through the machine gun approach to comedy. But there will also be many, like me, who long for more of this type of production.
Nothing beats a rich dramatic text which takes the audience on a journey and gives actors something to get their teeth into: Miss Saigon, The Pillowman, Sunday in the Park with George, The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire being some of my favourites.
But comedies such as One Man, Two Guvnors and Too Clever By Half give you respite from whatever is getting you down or boring you. The news, the weather, your job, annoying family members – whatever it may be. And laughter, particularly the hearty kind, makes you feel a damn sight better.
So, if you are feeling the heat metaphorically or literally – take a trip to the Royal Exchange as Told
By an Idiot’s bonkers and barmy humour will do the trick.
Too Clever By Half is at the Royal Exchange, Manchester until 13 August
