The fairy lights are twinkling and the scent of mulled wine is wafting through the streets. The cast of One Man, Two Guvnors needs no more excuse to pull their crackers.
‘Tis the season to be jolly, and there are few jollier places in London’s Theatreland than the Theatre Royal Haymarket, where the hit National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors has been making audiences guffaw like tickled donkeys since March 2012.
Proving it’s never too early to start celebrating Christmas – in the Official London Theatre offices we tucked into our first mince pies of the year on a sweltering August afternoon – the cast of the giggle-inducing show have donned the classiest of paper crowns and dug out the fake mistletoe in the hope of spreading some Christmas cheer.
I imagine Christmas is a special time of year for the farce’s central character Francis Henshall. He’s a man who’ll do anything for a meal, and with so much festive food around he must be in his element. The comedy, written by Richard Bean, follows Henshall as he tries his best to work for two small-time crooks, trying to keep each apart to keep his secret alive. Unfortunately for him the two crooks want to meet each other, as one is the other’s girlfriend disguised as her own brother.
The award-winning comedy, which was first a hit at the National Theatre in 2011, is in the home straight of its time making London’s theatregoers laugh unreservedly. It will close at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 1 March 2014. That does give you Christmas and New Year to catch it again or for the first time. It’s a cracker.