Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright at Wyndham’s Theatre: part smart reinvention and part lazy cash-in
Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright at Wyndham’s Theatre: part smart reinvention and part lazy cash-in
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This dark and often bloody comedy by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith inspired by their decade-long anthology TV series is a mix of the intelligent and the obvious – part smart reinvention and part lazy cash-in. There’s an undeniable thrill at seeing the duo –also formerly two-fourths of The League of Gentlemen – in the flesh, riffing like the old-school double-acts they idolise, and channeling their parallel love of horror into IRL jump scares.
![[Steve Pemberton in Inside No.9 Stage/Fright]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/29/17/44/5--Steve-Pemberton--Credit-Marc-Brenner.jpeg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
But there’s an over-reliance on rehashed TV material, metatheatrical jokes, and pop-culture references that will be baffling to anyone under 50. Oh well, most of the run has sold out already. Ker-ching. Things look promising at first. The duo initially turn their sharp-eyed nerdery towards the theatre world, blending together stories of Grand Guignol excess and haunted playhouses with clever sideswipes at contemporary shows, from the star casting and cheap thrills of 2:22 a Ghost Story to the video walkabouts that have become commonplace since Sunset Boulevard. “You can’t walk down Shaftesbury Avenue without bumping into some c*** with a camcorder,” grumbles Pemberton.
The best in-joke is the first: the curtain opens on a bank of theatre seats facing us, where Pemberton’s noisy character and two others indulge in breaches of theatrical etiquette that steadily drive Shearsmith’s peevish fellow punter into a murderous fury.
![[Bhav Joshi, Steve Pemberton, Miranda Heennessy, Anna Francolini. Credit Marc Brenner]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/29/17/21/9--L-R-Bhav-Joshi-Steve-Pemberton-Miranda-Heennessy-Anna-Francolini--Credit-Marc-Brenner.jpeg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
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