Good Luck, Studio (Mischief Theatre) - Mercury Playhouse

[talkingheads]

A new Mischief play! Written by Henry Shields, opens 30th September to 15th October, then at Salisbury Playhouse 18th October to 5th November, tickets onsale from 24th May:


It’s the final night of recording Wibble the Dragon. The show is massively over budget and under written. With one hour left to film 16 pages and an audience of children getting more and more impatient, the cast and crew know big cuddly heads are going to roll.


The last thing anyone needs is a failed actor showing up with a sinister vendetta and his own dragon costume. In this adult take on a kids’ TV show more than just careers will die.


Good Luck, Studio is a new dark comedy from the award-winning theatre company Mischief, written by Henry Shields

and directed by Henry Lewis.


www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/good-luck-studio/

[Dawnstar]

At least I can get to Colchester, unlike the recent announcements for Edinburgh, Manchester & Newcastle. Though it's far enough away that I can only do a matinee so I hope there won't be hordes of kids in the audience, as I can imagine plenty of parents misreading the part of announcement that says it's not for kids.

[emmy]

Anyone seen/ seeing this soon? Going in a couple of weeks and would be interested to hear reports.

[Dawnstar]

I'm seeing it on Thursday, assuming the trains start running again alright after Wednesday's strike.

[showgirl]

Reviews haven't been that good so far: a couple of 2 stars and a couple of 3s, but early days yet. Critics have cited the uneven or dark tone and fewer laughs than usual. I don't mind the latter as I'm not a particular Mischief Theatre fan but hope this play has, or finds its own identity rather than failing to be their usual fare whilst being unsure what is instead.

[emmy]

Oct 2, 2022 13:17:05 GMT Dawnstar said:

I'm seeing it on Thursday, assuming the trains start running again alright after Wednesday's strike.

Ooh what did you think?

[Dawnstar]

I haven't quite made my mind up yet. I think I'd need another viewing or two to decide how I'd rank it among Mischief's shows. The best word I could think of to describe it is schizophrenic. Some of it is cartoon-like & some of it's quite dark - and at times it's both at the same time. I suspect most people would be more sympathetic with the motivation of one of the characters that was the trigger for the main plot than I was, which might help with appreciating some of the more emotional moments. I definitely laughed more in Act II than in Act I & Act II has more of Mischief's typical physical comedy.

I thought the cast were all very good & it was nice to see so many familiar faces, as 7 out of 10 of them have been in one or more other Mischief shows. They're certainly gluttons for punishment! I was particularly impressed with Adam Byron, who I thought was very good playing a character who's much older than he is, and Greg Tannahill, who in the interval I was thinking had been rather underused thus far, had a tour de force near-solo scene in Act II. Of those cast members new to me, I particularly enjoyed Tom Walker as director Andy, though I suspect I'm not actually supposed to agree with as many of the character's comments as I did.

[properjob]

I saw it this afternoon and liked it. It is definitely from the mischief family, but from their darker end. This is present in their other work but not normally as obvious unless you stop and think about some of the sad back story of some of the characters in Cornley and why they are desperate to impress.
I and the rest of the audience laughed a lot and I did like the looping structure of the farce with some great set pieces.
I'm sure there are still some minor tweaks to be made but it deserves and I hope it gets, a longer life than a four stop regional tour.
Because "Jonathan Pie" is such a great character I found it hard to not see the actor as him and expected to break into a rant about Liz Truss any moment.
I think 3.5 to 4 stars and I'm glad a made the long journey to see it.

[fiyero]

Does anyone know the running time of this? I am seeing it soon and the travel is getting more convoluted than normal and I am trying to make plans A and B
Very excited!

[samuelwhiskers]

2 hours 20.

It’s a very good show, just haven’t had time to post about it yet.

[showgirl]

No reports on here for almost a month so don't know where it has been in that time and whether no-one here has seen it, but I really enjoyed the matinee in Guildford yesterday, as apparently did the rest of the decent, if nowhere near full audience. Not being a particular fan of Mischief (saw the original play years ago at the Old Red Lion in Angel and they lost me after one follow-up visit to a West End production) may have stood in my favour as I wasn't going to be disappointed if this was the departure from their normal fare which other have said; I was hoping simply to have a good time, which I definitely did. Actually I laughed out loud a lot, which I rarely do, though the material may not have been to everyon'e taste as a couple sitting next to me didn't return after the interval; they however were in a small minority and there was a partial standing ovation at the end.

Having booked months earlier I hadn't realised how poorly this production - or weekday matinee performances at least - were selling at the Yvonne Arnaud - until earlier this week when I received a very discounted ticket offer by email. So I then checked the bookings and was alarmed to see how sparse they were, but whether due to offers and/or word of mouth, a lot more tickets had clearly been sold in the last few days, which helped to create the sort of atmosphere this show needs. I'd certainly recommend this to anyone who might like it but how to tell who that might be?

[Dawnstar]

It was in Salisbury between Colchester & Guildford. I had thought about seeing it again in Guildford but with the train strikes I couldn't & by the time the strikes were cancelled I'd spent the money on a ticket for something else instead.

[Steve]

I'm so sorry I missed this. I'd love it to have some sort of further life in London, anywhere, even if it's at the Pleasance, where they first staged "Peter Pan Goes Wrong." Fingers crossed.

[Dawnstar]

This morning I woke up from dreaming that a London transfer to the Ambassador Theatre had been announced. I wonder if that's a good omen?!

[hadeswasking]

Would've very much loved to have seen this. What a shame it didn't go further north.

[marob]

I think Mischief are popular enough that it would be odd for this to only run in three regional theatres and then disappear. I’m also trying not to be so impulsive when booking stuff that requires travel/overnight stays, so didn’t book on the assumption this will end up either with a London run or going out on tour. Just hope I’m right, now. 🤞

[showgirl]

Even though I'm not a particular fan of Mischief I agree, marob: would have expected/hoped this would have a longer life. Maybe this was a try-out to see if it would sell, due to the different type of material and venues mentioned above; it did also have quite a large cast compared to the forthcoming 2-person "Mind Mangler" which of course a cast member trailed in an announcement at the end. Even if that was my sort of thing (no: only 2 people and far more like the type of thing I associate with Mischief), when it visits Guildford at the end of March 2023, there are only 2 performances and both in the evening, so too risky with trains reduced to 1 per hour at that time.