Theatre review: Pandemonium

Having had huge hits on TV and film, Armando Iannucci is taking on the West End next year, but before that he warms up with something a lot more intimate in scale, and very much in his traditional wheelhouse of topical political satire: Pandemonium, which Patrick Marber directs in Soho Theatre's main house, is a retelling of the Boris Johnson years in government, particularly, of course, the Covid pandemic. The main styles it emulates are Jacobean and Restoration satire, with a generous dose of Shakespearean pastiche, although it takes in influences all the way from Mediaeval Mystery plays to Ubu Roi. Taking its cue from Johnson's childhood ambition to be "World King," the central character is called Orbis Rex (Paul Chahidi,) a childlike disruptor figure who opens the show convinced that the gods have anointed him as one of their own.

Chahidi, Faye Castelow, Debra Gillett, Natasha Jayetileke and Amalia Vitale are a five-strong company of players taking on a host of comic grotesques with names as unsubtle as those in the old comedies Iannuci lifts his style from.

So we get Chancellor Riches Sooner, Michael Go (who just won't,) Orbis' short-lived successor Less Trust, who seems to be under the impression she's Queen Elizabeth I, and Nadine Doggies, who sees herself as a cut-throat interviewer but instantly barks and rolls over to get her tummy rubbed when talking to anyone from her own party.

In a small venue and with Iannucci and Marber's names attached it's not surprising that Pandemonium sold out pretty quickly, although whether it quite lives up to expectation is a bit *scales gesture*. On the one hand the topic, despite its repercussions still rumbling through the news cycle so that a couple of very up-to-date references can sneak into the later scenes, already feels like an easy target that's been done to death. And despite the short running time there's still scenes where it seems every possible joke's already been made and even Iannucci can't refresh it.

But then there's moments where the gleefully surreal takes things up a notch, and the slightly tired tropes give way to huge laughs: Chahidi getting crowned at the start with a messy blond wig that descends from the skies, or Dominic Coming-For-You rising from Hell like a cross between King Hamlet's ghost and Jacob Marley. The guaranteed scene-stealer is Vitale's gormless Matt Hemlock, a Gollum-like creature infiltrating the corridors of power by pretending to be a real boy. "Matt Hemlock's wearing human trousers!" is going to live in my brain rent-free now. The cast are great throughout, and if there's times where there's a slight desperation to the attempts to make old gags feel new, they're made up for by the genuine fresh takes.

Pandemonium by Armando Iannucci is booking until the 13th of January at Soho Theatre (returns only.)

Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.