Trial By Laughter Review – Richmond Theatre
TRIAL BY LAUGHTER
Following critical acclaim for The Wipers Times, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, editor and lead cartoonist of Private Eye, have once again taken inspiration from real life events for their latest play Trial By Laughter.
Based on the real life events of William Hone, a provocative pamphleteer who believed in the freedom of speech. In 1817, he stood trial for ‘impious blasphemy and seditious libel’, yet the only crime he had committed was daring to be funny. He published parody’s of religious texts and mockery of the tyrannical government and the lecherous Prince Regent.
Due to his poverty he was forced to mount his own defence, assisted by the caricaturist George Cruikshank. Despite being acquitted, the crown wouldn’t let it be and went for a “best of three” approach and dragged him back to court twice more in the space of 48 hours. Each trial escalated the previous charges, and took a toll on Hone’s ill health but he persevered and using his own wit he was able to both charm and amuse the jury and was acquitted on all charges across the three trials.
Jeremy Lloyd is over the top and hilarious in his role of Prince Regent, a drunk, portly and lecherous man. Although there was a moment towards the end where the Prince is in bed with two women and I must say we were extremely confused at this point. The funniest bit of this was the way they all looked but the actual script and moment was lost on us.
However I was very impressed with the set, seamlessly switching between the courtroom, the palace to a London pub, with the use of sliding doors and hidden units. The sound team used recording of murmurs, outbursts and laughter from the public gallery and the jury, although some recordings of laughter are not met by the audience.
The biggest impact the play had on me was that Hone’s story is all true, and to know that the simple act of free speech used to looked on as a crime. We have moved forward in the world in some ways, but the discussion is still as relevant as ever with many still trying to undermine the press.
As a theatre production I think it was a little drawn out at times with a dramatic flare missing but would work really well as a television series. William Hone’s deserves more recognition but whilst the production was put together well, with a great cast, I feel like it needed something extra to give it that wow factor.
