THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY – West End

Criterion Theatre, London

If I want to have a good laugh, I would not go back to The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, for it really wasn’t my cup of tea, at all.

This was my first experience of the inordinately successful Mischief Theatre Company but one which I reacted viscerally to, knowing pretty early that it wasn’t for me as it took a gag, repeated it, and then again, and then again, flogging it to death like Louise Mensch and someone, anyone, speaking common sense.

How people manage more than 20 minutes of it, I don’t know. But that’s the beauty of comedy (and theatre), one man’s Airplane is another man’s [insert pretty much any Adam Sandler film]. Hell, I can’t even make it through Ed Balls and Katya Jones’s Gangnam Style dance without giggling helplessly.

Ian Foster

Since 2003, Ian Foster has been writing reviews of plays, sometimes with a critical element, on his blog Ought to Be Clowns, which has been listed as one of the UK's Top Ten Theatre Blogs by Lastminute.com, Vuelio and Superbreak. He averages more than 350+ shows a year. He says: "Call me a reviewer, a critic or a blogger, and you will apparently put someone or other's nose out of joint! So take it or leave it, essentially this is my theatrical diary, recording everything I go to see at the theatre in London and beyond, and venturing a little into the worlds of music and film/TV where theatrical connections can be made."