THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY – October 16-20, 2018

It’s summer 1958 and the Minneapolis City Bank has been entrusted with a priceless diamond. But there’s an escaped convict on the loose who has a cunning plan to steal it.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything!

The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, at Norwich Theatre Royal from October 16-20, is the third production from Mischief Theatre to be brought before city audiences and if The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong are anything to go by, then sides will be splitting and cheeks will be wet with tears of laughter.

Nominated for an Olivier Award, the madcap caper is now into its third year in the West End at the Criterion Theatre. A fast and fabulous comedy full of physical slapstick and traditional English humour (think Fawlty Towers), it is heading out around 36 venues around the UK on a tour which runs into next summer having opened in Birmingham on August 23.

The characters include a crook who ends up dead, his screwball sidekick, trickster girlfriend… and a maintenance man. With mistaken identities, love triangles and hidden agendas, even the most reputable can’t be trusted and in a town where everyone’s a crook, who will end up bagging the jewel?

The touring cast features Seán Carey (as Sam Monaghan) who was in The Play That Goes Wrong in the West End; David Coomber (Neil Cooper) who has theatre experience in Canada; Liam Jeavons (Mitch Ruscitti) whose acting credits include television in Goodnight Sweetheart, Father Brown and Doctors; and Julia Frith (Caprice Freeboys) and George Hanniganas (Everyone Else) who are both making their professional debuts.

Joining them are Damian Lynch (Robin Freeboys) whose extensive film and TV credits include Holby City, EastEnders, The Bill and Little Britain, as well as voicing the character of Killmonger in the Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 video game; Killian Macardle (Officer Randal Shuck) who appeared in Inspector George Gently and Boy Meets Girl; Yolanda Ovide (Ruth Monaghan) who recently graduated from LAMDA; and highly experienced stage actor Jon Trenchard (Warren Slax) whose face is familiar to Norwich drama fans who will have seen him on stage at the Theatre Royal with the all-male Shakespearean company Propeller. His many stage appearances also include performing with the Bristol Old Vic and The Watermill, as well as in the West End and national tour of Swallows and Amazons, plus an appearance on film in The Da Vinci Code and on the small screen in My Family.

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.

The company has two shows playing concurrently in the West End: The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre – also playing on Broadway and touring the UK – and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery at the Criterion Theatre. In December 2016, Mischief made its television debut on the BBC with Peter Pan Goes Wrong 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.

Company director Jonathan Sayer, who co-wrote The Comedy About a Bank Robbery with artistic director Henry Lewis and Henry Shields, said: “I think people need to laugh a lot at the moment and I think we’re really good at offering pure escapism. It’s not political, it’s not about anything other than being as funny as you possibly can be, minute by minute, and making people laugh.”

Communications officer Judy Foster said: “Our Theatre Royal audiences have enjoyed two previous Mischief Theatre productions from the the disastrous ‘Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’ with The Play That Goes Wrong in 2017 and Peter Pan Goes Wrong in 2015. Now we have the slapstick fun of The Comedy About A Bank Robbery which has been described as ‘the funniest show in the West End’ by The Telegraph. Guaranteed to lift the spirits as we head into the darker winter nights, it’s a show that can only end in tears of laughter.”

Listing:

The Comedy About A Bank RobberyTuesday 16 – Saturday 20 October, Eves 7.30pm, Mats Weds, Tur & sat 2.30pm. Tickets £10-£31.50. Discounts for Friends & Corporate Club, Over-60s, Under-18s and Groups. Captioned Performance on Thursday 18 October 2.30pm. Audio Described Performance on Saturday 20 October 2.30pm. For more info or to BOOK ONLINE www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk