You Knew Gregory encapsulates every fun and light-hearted student night out. Somewhere between the tone of Friday Night Dinner and Miranda, it provides a series of laugh-out-loud moments and easy viewing.
The play follows eight people at the funeral of Gregory, an individual whom none of the attendees have had any meaningful connection to.
Rhodd Friswell’s writing is easy to follow and the interweaving motives of each character keep the audience engaged, albeit somewhat simplistic. The writing picks up pace throughout the show which is aided by the monologues as each character stumbles in to explain their connection to the deceased.
This leads on to one of my favourite moments of the play, provided by Jow Cleave, Marcus Webb and Ben Black. Jow Cleave gives a hilarious monologue depicting their character Norman’s wild past, in which their physicality shines through and timing is impeccable. Ben Black and May Kusnirova act as the anchor to the play with Kusnirova’s hysterical Diane being complimented well by Ben Black’s calm and collected Daniel.
A particular highlight was Black’s totally imperfect scouse accent, which was incredibly entertaining. The comic standout has to be Marcus Webb, playing the caricature of a performative male. His comedy never fails to land with the audience in the room and he nearly forces his co-stars into stitches. The comedic timing of all the actors was spot on and in spite of some issues with diction and volume, were a pleasure to watch.
If you want emotionally hard-hitting theatre, highly complex characters and head-scratching dilemmas, then this is not the play for you. But if you are looking for a night of chilling humour, which will leave you cackling into the night then I can only highly recommend You knew Gregory.
Image courtesy of You Knew Gregory Team.