Skip to main content

Review of Flash Festival 2016: What If They Were Wrong? by Two Funny at Hazelrigg House (Studios)

Clowns. We hate them or we love them (if you are really weird). I am not particularly enamored really (although I am weird). So a Flash show based around them, what would there be to like? Not a lot I would imagine.

However in the hands of Two Funny formed of Cynthia Lebbos and Benjamin Williams, they are really very appealing. It helps that this is more silly behaviour than strange noses and big feet. This is a sort of Mr Bean situation, but with a modern edge. Indeed Benjamin reminded me a great deal of Rowan Atkinson during the show, full of the awkward social problems, bizarre pulling of faces and tremendous physical ability, literally bouncing off the walls at times.

Both characters are magnificently cute and endearing as their burgeoning romance over reduced bread and cheese slices develops. It helps also that this is the most interactive of all the shows as nearly everyone in the audience gets involved at some point, if only to have their hair stroked or a peg put on it (their hair). There is also a quite stunning scene, the wedding, where half a dozen of us (including moi) are up and part of the scene. Personally my own appearance was a return to my one stage skill of holding something up, as I had the mantelpiece during The Play That Goes Wrong. This time it was a giant papier mache mitre, which was balanced on poor Ellen Shersby Wignall's head as with a rapidly charging accent, she read the service from a scroll.

There are elements of danger in using so many audience members, however this was a very accommodating one, well most of them were fellow students after all. It was again another show that would be fascinating to see performed in front of a relatively standard theatre audience. The choosing of someone to read that extract from Fifty Shades would be a particularly interesting one.

Cynthia and Benjamin are both brilliant and lively in their performances. Quite obviously working really well together and although it is a show that can happily have random things happening, someone falling over for example. It is clear that this has been superbly constructed and rehearsed to perfection.

As is the want of many Flash shows, this does have its social commentary point and this particular one is anger management and is done in the most magnificently unexpected and indeed macabre way. We are encouraged out of our chairs and ushered down into the basement of Hazelrigg, where perhaps the biggest surprise of this years Flash occurs as this show becomes one of incredible black comedy.

It was a heck of a way to finish a most superbly entertaining show. Full of drive and physical prowess from the two performers and a tremendous ease with the audience. Definitely one of the best from Flash this year.


The Flash Festival 2016 runs between Monday 16th and Saturday 21st May, 2016 at four venues across the town. Details can be found at http://ftfevents.wix.com/flashtheatre2016

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Breaking the Code at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Breaking The Code , the opening play in the new Made in Northampton season at Royal & Derngate, is a surprisingly old and rarely seen play. Written in 1986 by Hugh Whitemore, it tells the story of legendary codebreaker Alan Turing, a man who, in the 1980s, when this play first appeared, was relatively unknown. The years since the origin of this play have been good for Turing, with his life's work finally getting the recognition it deserves, and also, very much what this play centres on, a recognition of the horrific life and end that Turing had as a result of dealing with the laws of the day. Breaking the Code has seen life before on the stage of the Royal, as back in 2003, Philip Franks took to the role of Turing in a very well-received production. So, what of this brand new version directed by the Royal & Derngate's artistic director Jesse Jones? Does it live up to Turing's legend? That is an unquestionable yes with no machines needed to crack the class behind thi...

Review of National Theatre Connections 2017 (16 Shows) at Royal & Derngate (Royal & Underground), Northampton

Alongside the University of Northampton BA Actors Flash Festival, the Connections festival at Royal & Derngate is now my joint favourite week of theatre each year. This is my fourth year at the festival and each time I have tried my very best (and succeeded) in seeing more and more of those on offer (four in 2014, ten in 2015 and twelve last year). This year I cracked sixteen shows, including the most interesting, a chance to see two of the plays by three different groups. I was able to see nine of this year's ten plays (a single nagging one, Musical Differences by Robin French was missing from the R&D line-up), and most I either enjoyed or finally understood their merits or reasons for inclusion. The writing of sixteen reviews is a little bit of an daunting prospect, however, I will do my best to review each of the plays and those I saw more than once, and pick around the comparisons. Extremism by Anders Lustgarten Performed by Bedford College Extremism was perfo...

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...