‘Classic!’ features a cast of 6 romping through all those classic novels you never had time to read. This production is currently playing at The Pleasance One at 14:40 until 29th August (except 15th & 22nd Aug).
The six performers in this production deliver high energy, loads of comedy plus both verbally and physically abuse audience members. It’s clear they try their hardest to keep the antics joyous and hilarious while telling the tale of each book. The ensemble takes on a multitude of farcical roles, embracing the silly and stupid at each turn, the cast are as follows; Louis Blair, Althea Burey, Amy Drake, Amy Gavin, Robin Simpson and Gareth Tempest.
‘Classic!’ has a great concept in the form of telling the tale of a multitude of books within an hour, however, with that you need to have a clear approach and solid script to keep the audience entertained. Peter Kerry and Lindsay Williams write the script for this production and although there are moments of great comedy, the actual main purpose of telling those stories doesn’t pay off. The dialogue is at points too long-winded, the style in which they tell the tales can be contrived and moments where they have attempted to be comedic, fall flat. The choices of novels that they have are perfect, it’s just a shame the execution of the presentation of these novels has not paid off.
Joyce Branagh’s direction for this production lifts some of these moments allowing the actors to improvise and react in the moment, bringing some humour to the audience. However, the pacing of this production is too quick for the audience to acknowledge the stories that the actors are telling. Yes, it is a “romp through” of all these books, however the text and direction needs to accommodate the audience being able to follow those tales. There is also a bit too much going on all at once, where the mix in tempo and the cluttered stage is too much to follow. With that there is confusion of which genre this production is trying to fit into, there is moments where there is a clear exaggeration of the tales and then there are moments where they try to embrace the drama, romance or tension of each story. Some tales are perfectly spoofed, others seem like they are just a poor reiteration which ultimately confuses the audience of what this production is trying to be.
One of the saving graces of this production is the music by Louis Ashton Butler, which lifts scenes and helps tell the tales with comedy. Joe Clayton’s musical direction compliments Louis’ tracks.
‘Classic!’ is unfortunately a mixed bag where you admire the cast and creatives for what they’re trying to achieve, however, the execution ultimately doesn’t pay off.
Get tickets for ‘Classic!’ below:
Theatre Scotland 
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