Diary of a Nobody, The King's Head Theatre

Culture Whisper says: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭒

Below is our preview, which explains the background of the show. Click here to read our Diary of a Nobody, King's Head Theatre Review. 

Based on the novel Evelyn Waugh considered ‘the funniest book in the world’, Rough Haired Pointer’s production of Diary of a Nobody combines sharp wit with slapstick hilarity.
Following a sold out run at first the White Bear then The King's Head theatre in summer 2014, this staging of George and Weedon Grossmith's 1892 novel has been revived for the new year. Expect a joyous evening of laughter - with a startlingly contemporary sense of humour - as well as an observant look at Victorian suburban life
The Story…
The play centres around  Charles Pooter, City clerk and self-proclaimed ‘nobody’, and his new terrace in Holloway. Pooter –occasionally frivolous, often pompous, always well-meaning – and his forbearing wife Carrie attempt to keep up appearances and repute, all the while contending with angry tradesmen, a useless maid, their foppish son Lupin and the respectively insipid and miscreant friends Cummings and Gowing. There’s little of an overarching plot, but it doesn’t matter – the farcical situations the Pooters endure provide a comic momentum of their own.
The People...
Rough Haired Pointer have quickly established themselves as a significant fringe voice. Director Mary Franklin and designer Carin Nakanishi, the company’s founders, continue their playful relationship with the theatrical form. The direction transforms Pooter’s measured diary into a whirlwind of set-piece events. Nakanishi’s set, with black furniture painted on white walls and projected overlays for different scenes, is redolent of Weedon Grossmith’s original illustrations. Four actors, all male, take on forty-five roles, sometimes playing several simultaneously. Actors Jordan Mallory-Skinner, Geordie Wright, George Fouracres and Jake Curran return from the previous runs. Mallory-Skinner won particular acclaim in June for his unexaggerated, gestural performance as Carrie Pooter, while Fouracres is an alumni of the admired Cambridge Footlights.