Preview: Comedy About A Bank Robbery at Newcastle Theatre Royal

MISCHIEF THEATRE STEAL THE SHOW WITH THEIR NEW SMASH-HIT COMEDY

The Comedy About A Bank Robbery

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 22^nd – Saturday 26^th January 2019

Following the phenomenal success of its multi award-winning comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, Mischief Theatre make a triumphant return to Newcastle Theatre Royal with the Olivier Award nominated West End smash hit The Comedy About A Bank Robbery.

Having played to packed-out audiences with The Play That Goes Wrong in 2017 and 2018, Mischief Theatre had previously delighted North East theatre-goers in 2015 with the hilarious Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

Now booking into its third year at the Criterion Theatre in London, Mischief Theatre’s smash-and-grab hit, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, is a fast and fabulous comedy caper hailed the funniest show in the West End!

Summer 1958. Minneapolis City Bank has been entrusted with a priceless diamond. An escaped convict is dead set on pocketing the gem with the help of his screwball sidekick, trickster girlfriend… and the maintenance man. With mistaken identities, love triangles and hidden agendas, even the most reputable can’t be trusted. In a town where everyone’s a crook, who will end up bagging the jewel?

The touring cast presents: Seán Carey as ‘Sam Monaghan’, David Coomber as ‘Neil Cooper’, Julia Frith as ‘Caprice Freeboys’, George Hannigan as ‘Everyone Else’, Liam Jeavons as ‘Mitch Ruscitti’, Damian Lynch as ‘Robin Freeboys’, Killian Macardle as ‘Officer Randal Shuck’, Ashley Tucker as ‘Ruth Monaghan’, and Jon Trenchard as ‘Warren Slax’. With Understudies: Charlotte Duffy, Tom Hopcroft, Julie Cullen, Ross Virgo and Eddy Westbury.

Company Director Jonathan Sayer said: “The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is not like our other shows in the fact that Bank is not a ‘play within a play’. It’s a traditional fourth wall play, but you can still expect an incredibly high gag rate, huge stunts like the previous shows, all intertwined with some Marx Brothers patter and also lovely singing and bits of acrobatics. It’s a much more ambitious piece! And then of course as well it has a big storyline to it, so you really fall in love with the characters and follow their journey.”

He added: “A huge inspiration for The Comedy About A Bank Robbery has been silent comedies, big physical comedy, like Charlie Chaplin. A lot of that work started out in the theatre, in vaudeville and in the music hall, doing these big dangerous stunts and then they moved it onto the silent screen.”

Mischief Theatre was founded in 2008 by a group of graduates of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).  Starting as an improvised theatre group on the London and Edinburgh fringes, they have grown into one of the UK’s leading theatre companies, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy for The Play That Goes Wrong, and licensing their productions worldwide. Mischief Theatre have two shows playing concurrently in the West End: The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre - also playing on Broadway - and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery at the Criterion Theatre.

In December 2016, Mischief made their television debut on the BBC with Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Olivier Award Nominee 2016), which has also enjoyed two sell-out West End seasons. Mischief returned to BBC One in 2017 with a new Christmas special, A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. The company is led by Artistic Director Henry Lewis and Company Director Jonathan Sayer.

The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. The tour is directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward. Originally directed by Mark Bell with Nancy Zamit for Mischief Theatre; Designer: David Farley; Costume Designer: Roberto Surace; Lighting Designer: David Howe; Sound Design: Jon Fiber for JollyGoodTunes; Musical Director and Arranger: Joey Hickman; Associate Musical Director: Barbara Hockaday; Resident Director: Katie-Ann McDonough. Produced by Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence, in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre presenting a Mischief Theatre Production.

Photos: Robert Day

Tickets:

The Comedy About A Bank Robbery plays Tue 22 – Sat 26 Jan 2019. Tickets are priced from £14.50 and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).