Theatre review: The Time Machine

The Park Theatre wouldn't have the clout to get the whole of Mischief Theatre for its main seasonal comedy show, but they have managed one of the core cast members to take the lead. And if the amount of laughs turns out to be roughly proportionate, that's... still a pretty decent hit rate to be honest. In Steven Canny and John Nicholson's The Time Machine Dave Hearn, Amy Revelle and Michael Dylan play characters with their own first names, although Dave's surname here is Wells, because the premise is he's a descendant of H. G. Wells, author of the original science fiction novel. The three are a theatre troupe rehearsing a touring production of The Importance of Being Earnest when Dave discovers that his ancestor's book wasn't fiction, but an account of a journey into the future he had actually made, published as a warning of what would happen if humankind didn't change its ways.

He insists they change their show to a hastily-produced adaptation of the novel, with the gimmick of including some of Wells' actual belongings as props. Unbeknownst to them, one of these props is the actual time machine, and a convoluted set of events means the first act ends with Amy accidentally killing Michael.

Although you can tell how much talent is in both the writing and performances, Orla O’Loughlin's production is wildly uneven, especially in the first act. When the gags land they land hard and get big laughs, but there can be some awkwardly long gaps between them, and while you can't fault the cast for their energy, they're sometimes fighting against the material. The problem is there's a huge amount of setup to be done: As well as the characters and premise, we've got to establish them workshopping and rehearsing the new play, and try to squeeze in a bit of Wells' actual story as well.

It becomes clear how much this has been holding everybody back in the second act, which is a lot more confident. All the exposition's been done, and Nicholson and Canny can settle down to the comic story they actually want to tell, of Dave travelling back in time to the start of the performance to save Michael. But the laws of time travel seem to have doomed him to die at the same moment in one elaborate accident or other, and they have to enlist an usher (Noah Marrullo,) a cardboard cut-out of Professor Brian Cox, and several audience members to help them find a solution.

Phill, Vanessa and I were in the circle but if you're in the stalls it seems nobody is safe: Audience members get to go on a last date with Michael, phone the scientists of the future, or do a bit of stage combat with Dave, who's got bored of trying to save his friend's life and would like to finish the play now. There's even a child brought on stage to do cast portraits, and I don't know why I found Dylan nonchalantly sliding a pizza out of its box to be one of the evening's comic highlights but there we are. (That, and the fact that they apparently consider B*witched to be hip-hop.)

It's a shame the show requires a certain amount of patience before the interval until it hits its stride, but when it does there's a good payoff to some of the non-sequiturs from the first act, and Amy's Cher fixation (a handy fixation to have in a show about turning back time.) It's on the hit-and-miss side, but the hits are good enough to make this a good evening.

The Time Machine by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, loosely adapted from the novel by H. G. Wells, is booking until the 30th of December at Park Theatre 200.

Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.