Review: Funny Peculiar
Everything has its place and time: sometimes you want thought-provoking drama, evocative romance or weep-enducing tragedy. And sometimes you want a laugh.
Funny Peculiar is firmly aimed at the latter. An unashamed revival of Mike Stott's seventies sex comedy, this is the tale of a small town shopkeeper who dreams of free love.
With a cast of soap opera stars led by Coronation Street's Craig Gazey and ex-Hear'Say singer Suzanne Shaw, the crowd at Norwich's Theatre Royal were kept entertained with a flowing tide of uncomplicated gags.
Gazey gave a great line in physical comedy as the vexed grocer, in a loving but uneventful marriage with Shaw; tempted by Hollyoak's Gemma Bissix (and her variable accent) to explore his wild side - including showing it (literally and repeatedly) to the audience.
Steven Blakeley (Heartbeat) put in a nice turn as the backward but sometimes insightful village idiot, with Vicky Entwistle as his overbearing and ever-gossiping mother.
You may also want to watch:
Fans of cutting edge comedy should look elsewhere: this is straightforward stuff, including a smartly-executed slapstick food fight between Gazey and his over-passionate confectionary supplier (Simon Naylor).
The jokes haven't been updated from the seventies and the sensibilities sometimes feel a little out of place, but that's exactly what is promised on the tin.
Most Read
- 1 Pretty thatched cafe business on Broads for sale for £75,000
- 2 Escape to the Country names 'north Norfolk's seaside capital'
- 3 The areas where Covid rates have fallen the fastest since lockdown began
- 4 'Small number' of staff at town's Tesco test positive for Covid-19
- 5 'We're all shocked' - Butchers shop attacked by vandals
- 6 Shock as cannabis factory found in quiet Broads' village
- 7 Anger as woodland used as 'playground and dustbin'
- 8 Giant Victorian underground reservoir marks supplying city for 150 years
- 9 Report into woman's murder by jealous ex: 'Employers must do more'
- 10 Homes plan to be revealed for former infant school
Funny Peculiar continues at the Norwich Theatre Royal until Saturday, with performances nightly at 7.30pm and 2.30pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.
