The Crown Jewels, Garrick Theatre Review

★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Bronagh

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

The Crown Jewels is a historical heist story, based on a true story about the attempted theft of the Crown Jewels. On the surface this is quite a promising play, with a well-known cast and written by Simon Nye who is known for writing Men Behaving Badly, however, I was left a little underwhelmed.

Firstly, the cast; is made up of some well-known comedy names such as Al Murray, Joe Thomas and Mel Giedroyc, as well as theatre royalty Carrie Hope Fletcher. The show starts with Carrie singing, which is brilliant, but the show plateaus from there really. Only Carrie sings throughout – and there’s no faulting her singing – which will please the many Carrie fans that I’m sure will fill the audience. Joe Thomas, who has provided many a laugh as Simon in The Inbetweeners and Kingsley in Fresh Meat, doesn’t particularly have a great stage presence which is quite disappointing, and he should really work on his Irish accent. Adonis Siddique is stand out as the King’s footman, a wide-eyed yes man providing a few laughs. Al Murray does play a good King and fitted into the role nicely, and there’s no denying that Mel Giedroyc is naturally funny; they are the saving graces of quite an otherwise average show.

Audience participation sends shivers down my spine, so I was grateful to not be in the first few rows of the stalls. It just isn’t for me, and I would hate to be picked on in front of an audience as I’m sure many other people would too. Perhaps some sort of warning would be suitable when booking tickets. Al Murray breaking the fourth wall and talking to audience members didn’t particularly bring anything to the show, nor did Mel Giedroyc sitting on an audience member’s lap. This is obviously right up some peoples’ street and funny to a lot of people, maybe not for shyer people like myself.

There are some genuinely funny moments, which can’t be faulted. However, considering this is billed as a comedy, the overall feel was fairly flat and slightly ‘Blackpool Pier’. The story, as previously mentioned is based on a real-life incident, feels thin and a lot of the humour is dated.

Overall, The Crown Jewels isn’t terrible but it isn’t great either. I can see why some people may find it funny, but it just didn’t do much for me. A promising cast, an interesting premise, but not a memorable show.