Light Up the Laughter

‘Sketches and songs to make you laugh’ was the order of the day as we returned to the Henrician for EODS’ latest show.  A nice idea for a themed evening – laughter being, of course, the best medicine – and I’m H.A.P.P.Y to say that the cast and crew thoroughly met the brief!

The show featured a mixture of comic songs and sketches, alongside songs about happiness, humorous musical theatre songs, and spoofs of that genre.  The evening included some relatively familiar songs and sketches – such as I Know It’s Today from Shrek and the Two Ronnie’s Fork handles – alongside two original works written for this show.  These weren’t specified in the programme, but my guess would be Mummies – about a group of parents, not Egyptians – and Synchronised Swimming, which was exactly as described on the tin and nicely performed. 

Alongside the main pieces, there was a little ‘one liner’ spotlight front and centre, from which members of the cast occasionally shared their most groan-worthy Christmas Cracker-style gags.  This was a nice touch, and garnered plenty of laughs.  It also helped to keep the show moving along, covering for the odd costume or set change.

Humour is of course notoriously subjective – one person’s hilarity is another’s stony faced silence – but the EODS team managed a high hit rate across the evening.  First half highlights for me included Princess with a Secret – a very funny song that went to unexpected places, archly performed by Gemma Bailey; and Rebecca Barclay’s BA Alternative – a clever spin on the airplane pre-flight announcement.  Meanwhile, the imaginative staging of I Love to Laugh from Mary Poppins – in which the actors began with poker faces before progressively bursting into smiles and then laughter – could be used as an object lesson of the difference it makes to an audience when the actors on stage smile and enjoy themselves.

Into the second half, and David Armond’s ‘Interpretive Dance’ to Bohemian Rhapsody got a well performed outing from Claire Watson, and the whole cast gave us a rousing Master of the House (particularly well done to the female chorus in this one.)  I also liked The Song in a Musical No-one Likes – nicely performed by Rebecca Barclay, Ella Witheford and Nicola Jackson.  Two ‘Happy’ songs bookended the act, both of which were enthusiastically sung and danced. 

Of the sketches, I particularly liked Brain Surgeon (a Mitchell and Webb sketch that had somehow escaped me) and The Actor’s Art, an entertaining if perhaps a little over-extended skit on the ‘Coarse Acting’ style.  Always good to hear Four Yorkshire Folk as well – the Monty Python sketch that never was!

The whole cast threw themselves into the task of making us laugh, and their enthusiasm was infectious.  Perhaps on one or two occasions nervousness got in the way, but by and large this was an assured performance by the whole EODS team.  Directors Rachelle Hobbs and Marcus Gilks largely kept things simple, rightly trusting the quality of the material to entertain us.  The group numbers featured some nice choreography, well delivered by the whole cast.

The show was staged in a relatively stripped down format, using an open set with a platform at the rear, with pieces of furniture and other items being introduced as the number demanded.  Costumes were colourful and, again, accented with additional items from time to time.  Sound was well managed, and the lighting was effective and suitably atmospheric where necessary.  All in all, a very neatly staged show.

My thanks to all at EODS for the lovely welcome and for an evening brimful of fun and frivolity.  I look forward to seeing you all again in 2023.

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