Misshapen Theatre/Leicester Comedy Festival

Misshapen Theatre has just come back from Leicester Comedy Festival, where Jon and Ashley put Jon’s play THE WAKE through its paces for two final performances, under the direction of Ant Cule and the supervision of me and Jack Swain. It’s safe to say that the moment that coffin was deconstructed and left for the skip must have been a cathartic one for all who sailed in her since THE WAKE’s inception as Jon’s twenty minute drama degree piece that won the Judges’ Award for Comedy at the National Student Drama Festival ‘09.

It was a fantastic show, full of impressions, twists and turns, sharp wit and filthy humour and more than a little touching humanity. Having come on board as Misshapen’s producer quite recently, I feel rather sad that I arrived at the tail end of its voyage. Onwards and upwards, however, with Jon’s new play, ‘The Facebook Play’ or PHILLIPA AND WILL ARE NOW IN A RELATIONSHIP. We’re taking it to the Brighton Fringe in May, and looking forward to having fun with a comedy drama based entirely on a couple’s Facebook wall-to-wall.

The Leicester Comedy Festival itself is branching out into comic drama as well as its regular plethora of excellent stand-up and character comedians, and Misshapen were at the vanguard this year, in the company of the delightful Terry Saunders and Caroline Horton. It has its work cut out to spread the word about this development, but we hope to do our bit and bring P&W up next year, proving that theatre can be both hilarious and poignant.