"That's 'cause she's only 4ft."
Last year Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's comedy/horror anthology Inside No.9 ended after, somewhat inevitably, 9 series, but as a final farewell to the show the writer/stars have reunited for a stage version, Stage/Fright. This is a mix of greatest hits of the series itself, and new material that could only work on stage, and although the TV show did experiment with various genres outside of its original Tales of the Unexpected roots, this new stage extension to the canon focuses on the queasy mix of sometimes cheesy comedy and jump-scare horror that feels like the series' purest form (so in the unlikely event that anyone was hoping for the utter bleakness of something like "The Last Weekend" or "The Trolley Problem" drawn out to two-and-a-half hours, I guess they'll be disappointed.)
Needless to say I want to try and review this without actual major spoilers - the entire West End run has sold out, but although a tour hasn't yet been announced the official website still has the title "UK Tour 2025" so I imagine there will be more opportunities for people who missed out. But it's probably fair to say that although there's new material throughout, the first act is predominantly a victory lap with a lot of references to the original 55 episodes, while the second is more of a standalone story that leans into stage magic and trickery, including John Bulleid's illusions*.
The evening actually opens with a scene of a man in a theatre trying to watch Hamlet, being distracted by people talking, using their phones and eating noisily, and culminating in him doing something about it in characteristically twisted fashion - this actually turns out to be the Inside No.9 version of one of those "make sure you turn your phone off" announcements. It's specifically set in Wyndham's Theatre, and in typically geeky attention to detail I'm pretty sure the programme was from the Jude Law Hamlet, which is the last time that play was revived there.
The publicity had teased that certain characters from the series might reappear, and the main ones turn out to be old vaudeville duo Cheese & Crackers - I was surprised that the publicity photos gave this away, but of all the episodes the much-loved "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room" is the one that's recreated on stage almost in its entirety. It also provides a framework for another comedy sketch that references "A Quiet Night In," "Sardines" and "Mulberry Close" among others, and gives the opportunity for a semi-improvised scene with a special guest: Tonight it was Daniel Mays who got kidnapped by bumbling criminals, particularly apt since he was in the episode "Kid/Nap."†
The second act is the one where Simon Evans' production really gets to play around with the theatrical form as we get, of course, the story of a theatre ghost. Again set in Wyndham's itself, we get rehearsals for a campy revival of a gory Grand Guignol play - one which had originally been staged here a century ago, leading to the accidental death of its lead actress, who haunts the building to this day. Here the supporting cast get their moment to shine as the denizens of an asylum and the actors playing them: Miranda Hennessy as an out-of-her-depth pop star cast to get bums on seats, Gaby French as an usher with ambitions to get herself into the show, Bhav Joshi as an actor going full method to deliver his one line, and Anna Francolini getting to channel Cloris Leachman as the matron, and go full luvvie when out of character.
I won't give away quite how this camp horror turns into something more genuinely spooky, and certainly won't reveal any of the twists, but will say the show is packed with in-jokes and references - I'm sure Grace Smart's detailed set (costumes are by the pair's regular collaborator Yves Barre) had many easter eggs I missed - I stopped trying to interpret what might be hidden in the eye charts because it was distracting me. But what's also nice as a theatre fan is that the geeky fixations the creators are famous for clearly extend to theatre itself, making this feel like more than a "lazy cash-in‡." So as well as the perfunctory joke about the bar prices we get things a bit more tailored to regular theatre audiences, like gags about 2:22 A Ghost Story's rotating cast of random Jennies with big Instagram followings, Jamie Lloyd's overreliance on live steadicam, and how terrible Kenneth Branagh's King Lear at the same theatre was. It's tricky writing a review with enough detail to remind me of what I liked about a show if I re-read it, without spoilers for anyone else, but suffice it to say that Stage/Fright delivered a strong mix of what Inside No.9 is known for with enough of a new theatrical element to make it worth the trip.
(The statuette of a hare does make an appearance; it's a bit more prominent than in most of the TV episodes.)
Inside No.9 - Stage/Fright by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith is booking until the 5th of April at Wyndham's Theatre (returns only.)
Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes including interval.
Photo credit: Marc Brenner.
*in the recreation of "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room" there was one illusion I was anticipating so I was looking straight at it, and still couldn't see how it was done
†apparently on Press Night the guest was Matthew Kelly who was in "Boo to a Goose," so it's probably safe to assume all the guest stars will be people who previously appeared on the show - apart from the finale, they only once broke their own rule not to reuse an actor, so that's a pretty large pool of talent to choose from
‡per the Evening Standard's review, as an irritated Mays is keen to remind them
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