NewsRevue
Canal Café Theatre
2 Delamere Terrace, W2 6ND
Every Thursday-Sunday
£16.50 including membership fee, then £15.00
Renowned for its epic and hilarious comedy, the Canal Café Theatre has been putting on a show since 1979. It has helped to launch some of the biggest names in comedy: from John Oliver to Miranda Hart. The 60-seat theatre holds notoriety for NewsRevue – the longest running sketch show in the world and has a cosy pub downstairs, the Bridge House, perfect for a pre/post show pint.
NewsRevue is a fast-moving mix of sketches and songs directed by Sam Sheldon. Gary Jerry plays cheery melodies on the piano to accompany the speedy scene changes and works of fine wit and lyricism. The cast present when we went was Matthew Biddulph, Michael Brackla, Loid Deeny and Helen Potter. The four performerss all shared equal weight and each brought unique characters to the performance. They were all incredibly skilled at morphing between personalities, whilst Biddulph’s facial expressions and Potter’s singing voice stood out as particularly noteworthy.
Before this summer, I never fancied myself as a fan of comedy. I’ve never enjoyed American sit-coms, such as Friends and Big Bang Theory which everyone seems to rave about… neither was I a particular fan of stand up (with the exception of Michael Mcintyre’s five spice sketch). To be perfectly honest, the only things to ever have me in stitches are The Inbetweeners and Bridget Jones: good old British toilet humour. However, 2018 has changed me, and since seeing Declan Perring’s one man, dark-comedy ‘Sam the Good Person’, I couldn’t wait to open my eyes to more on-stage giggles.
The theatre itself is cosy, and by cosy, I mean actually quite claustrophobic. If I wasn’t 5 drinks down I would have probably freaked out a bit more, but the reality was that my dulled awareness was perfect for chilling out and enjoying the show. It says it seats 60 and was jam packed when we went – we were on table 8, actually the front table, but on the back two seats, which in my opinion were the best in the house. All seats are the same price, apart from some premium seats situated in the ‘balcony’, which is essentially just a elevated platform at the back of the room (not too premium at all in my opinion). I would definitely go for the central seats, but be careful not to book around the edges if you get a bit shifty in confined spaces as there quite literally is no way out.
An amalgamation of approximately 30 min-sketches, each a total of around 2 minutes, NewRevue is a fast-paced, current and quite literally hilarious show. A definite must-see, I was in hysterics right from the beginning. The piss is taken out of pretty much every politician in the spotlight at the current time, as well as uppity stars such as Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell. Terrible TV such as the X Factor is ridiculed, as is the British tendency to criticise the weather no matter what (cue heatwave banter). This show really does have it all, but beware, you will have to be very up to date on current affairs otherwise you won’t understand at least half of the material.
A farcical, hysterical hour of genuine tummy-aching laughter: NewRevue is an essential watch, not just for its history, its reputation, or its name, but simply for the fact it is a seriously clever, funny and current take on today’s political and social climate. I even saw Declan Perring (Sam the good person) there himself, cracking up for the entire thing in the front row… and he knows good comedy.
OVERALL RATING: *****
https://www.newsrevue.com/
