★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Goodwood Theatre. 25 Feb 2023
Done To Death, By Jove! is a hoot! It’s a two hander where at least six are needed (actors that is, not six hands!). It’s a who dunnit and borrows from the style of The 39 Steps, The Play that Goes Wrong, segments from the TV series The Two Ronnies, and arguably from the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society etc formula. We have on stage two consummate award-winning actors – Nicholas Collett and Gavin Robertson – who both give an object lesson in physical humour and general stagecraft. It’s a delight, especially in the last fifteen minutes of the sixty minute show when the pace hots up and its bordering on chaos (of the best kind!).
So, what’s it all about?
Collett and Robertson take to the stage as Sir Nicholas and Sir Gavin, both mainstays of a touring theatre company that has experienced a major mishap. The truck carrying the cast, crew, set, properties – the whole box and dice so to speak – has broken down en route to the theatre. What to do? Because the show must go on, the two Sirs valiantly travel on to the theatre and hastily cobble together what they can by way of costumes and properties and perform the show, playing all roles by themselves. You get the picture. There are lots of madcap costume changes, sound effects that go wrong, missed lines, false starts, and a set that doesn’t entirely work. Yes, it’s a hoot!
In an attempt to solve the case and find out who murdered Lady Fanshawe, the two Sirs play the roles of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, as well as numerous witnesses, including two hilarious Scottish twin sisters, and a florist who could also be a flautist depending on your accent! Because the tech crew is stuck on the broken down truck, the two Sirs operate the laptop that has the sound effects on it, but it all gets hopelessly out of order which adds to the comedy.
But it could have been funnier, if the script was as strong as it was in the last fifteen minutes or so. Earlier in the play, the script calls for the two characters to break the fourth wall a little too often and to have side conversations between themselves as they sort out the myriad problems they need to solve. Initially its funny, but the script seems to rely a little too much on this stratagem, and the gag starts to wear thin. But, in the last quarter hour the style of the script comes into itself, and it is oh-so-funny!
Nicholas Collett and Gavin Robertson are an absolute delight, and it is obvious that they are having the time of their lives presenting this very silly but very funny play … that all goes wrong!
Kym Clayton
When: 25 to 26 Feb
Where: Goodwood Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
