WW Reviews

Cathal gives the best man speech at the wedding of his best friend John and his new wife Rebecca. The speech begins to go wrong as Cathal examines his own love life and exposes the various nefarious activities he and John used to do.

Using members of the audience to portray all the members of the wedding party and various guests created funny moments and lines but the audience interaction was all extremely well controlled by Hayes. Some productions can feel chaotic and that the actors are losing their presence and the audience feel emboldened to cause carnage. Those performances tend to make audiences feel nervous and take the enjoyment out of the piece but Hayes manages perfectly to use the audience to squeeze every laugh he can out of the script without creating that nervous feeling of chaos.

The costume was a simple blue suit which worked well for the piece. There was a small split in the stitching on the shoulder of the waistcoat Cathal was wearing which added to the feeling and mirrored the speech pulling apart.

The minimal set of a wedding sign gave enough context to the show without giving any indication of wealth or class which allowed the audience to easily imagine weddings they had attended or to lean into the imagined scenarios that the audience playing the wedding party came up with.

What takes this play from four stars and just funny to five stars is the emotional depth brought to the piece. Hayes brings an honesty to the play which makes you sympathise for a character who could, in the wrong hands, be unlikable.

Overall, I would highly recommend this play to anyone looking for a fun hour of laughter with a surprisingly honest and emotional character portrayed exquisitely by Colman Hayes.

Performance:
Saturday 24th August 2024
14:20
Underbelly, Bristo Square – Friesian

Created by: Mikey Fleming and Colman Hayes

Cast: