HIJINKS & CAVIAR at the New Wimbledon Theatre

★★

“In defence of the actors, they lacked nothing in energy and commitment, which they maintained throughout”

The best way, perhaps, to understand Hijinks and Caviar – a piece of new writing from duo Moody & Moody of Fluffy TOP Productions – is to see it as an approximation of an Agatha Christie period piece, but, alas, with none of the charm, intellect, or indeed, mystery. The play opens in mid 1920s England with the ambiguous death of Lady Mary (not of Downton Abbey fame, thankfully), whose husband has rudely read her diary and believes she was murdered (she had a long list of lovers/enemies). He quickly enacts a plan to invite all these people over to dinner and identify the murderer. Part of this identification seems to hinge upon someone having a flower tattooed on their thigh. I really can’t explain that bit further.

The guests gather, and their host never shows up (you’ll never guess why) whilst the three members of staff waddle about being confused. I don’t really know what happened for the next hour and a half, but people marched around with torches, and there was lots of bickering. But when they weren’t bickering or making asinine (and repetitive) remarks, they were singing. And dancing. Which I don’t think Agatha was quite as hot on.

A musical number, and indeed a musical, can be wonderful. But I don’t think even Les Mis, or Jesus Christ Superstar – which are entirely sung-through– had as many songs as Hijinks and Caviar. There were ten principal cast members in total, and each one had at least two solo pieces, as well as multiple ensemble numbers. And, as with a lot of new writing, the musical numbers are nothing special, and all blur into one monotonous chorus. This was no exception. There were just so many songs, and they did nothing to advance the plot. Or maybe they did, but I really couldn’t follow the plot, so I wouldn’t know.

The dialogue itself was not much better. It had about three gags which were regurgitated throughout. Every character was reduced to a lazy caricature of a 1920s Christie-esque figure. Each one seemed only to have one facet, and stuck to it throughout: for example, Lady Longfeather (Hayley Pettitt) is obsessed with etiquette yet only speaks in order to demand another drink, and thus gets progressively sloshed. Then she has to sing a song whilst sloshed. Mr Benny Factor (Danny Da’Val), on the other hand, is characterised as a dandy, but just makes continuous lude remarks to every female character. In defence of the actors, they lacked nothing in energy and commitment, which they maintained throughout. And no one looked like they envied the corpse, which was a relief.

Without revealing whodunnit, the ending seemed to me a frankly bizarre knock-off of Christie’s The Mousetrap, which remains London’s (in fact the world’s) longest running play for a reason.

Hijinks and Caviar is a new piece of theatre, and it is intended to be ridiculous. Unfortunately, it wasn’t clever enough to pull off absurdism, nor was it organised enough to pull off murder-mystery. There was definitely some fun in it, and occasionally, some decent humour. Perhaps its silliness does appeal to some, but its faltering structure, endless singing, and unoriginal dialogue, makes this a bit implausible.

HIJINKS & CAVIAR at the New Wimbledon Theatre

Reviewed on 21st October 2024

by Violet Howson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

PLEADING STUPIDITY | ★★★ | October 2024

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN | ★★ | April 2024

HIJINKS & CAVIAR

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★★★

“complex and polished enough to build a community and keep them coming back for more”

Bridge Command is part escape room part video game, where participants must work as a team to captain a space ship and complete a fully immersive sci-fi mission.

The world is meticulous, if incomprehensible. Set in a distant future in outer space, participants are members of an intergalactic navy, who must fight alien pirates and navigate high stakes crises. Fans of Star Trek will rejoice, it’s a chance to be part of this fantasy world. For those less familiar with classic sci-fi tropes, some of the jargon is hard to follow. However, this is the kind of experience where a fan could keep returning, with many missions and different roles on offer.

On our mission, we must visit a space port to retrieve a data-pad for our home base. We are all assigned roles, with different responsibilities on board. Some of the team are familiar with the world, already able to excel at the game. While we do receive extensive training, it’s somewhat daunting to a beginner. While most escape rooms deploy a range of skills, and have obvious rules to the world, Bridge Command is more chaotically plotted. It is exciting though, the stakes are high, if not entirely clear.

There is a charming eye to detail. On arrival we don navy overalls and are asked if it’s our first time teleporting. We travel through a ‘teleportation device’ where the startling light show leaves no doubt at the impressive level of tech that will be involved throughout. The bar gives us drinks in flasks, strapped around our suits. Then our team is introduced, and the mission begins. We are ushered through room after room, shown an astonishing array of well thought out immersive space craft and bombarded with the lore of the world. This is where I get a bit lost, but for some of the team it’s clearly a thrilling chance to play.

It is easy to see that Bridge Command is a dream come true for fans of video games, sci fi, and role-play. The world building and enthusiastic commitment to character from the performers makes the experience feel very real and as we come under fire from enemy spaceships, it is genuinely stressful.

For me, there was too much to learn in quite a short time and then the actual game play felt confusing as the aim wasn’t clear. However, it would work well as a team building experience, or for those who’ve always secretly wished they could command their own space mission. This experience is complex and polished enough to build a community and keep them coming back for more.

Category Archives: Reviews

HIJINKS & CAVIAR

★★

New Wimbledon Theatre

HIJINKS & CAVIAR at the New Wimbledon Theatre

★★

“In defence of the actors, they lacked nothing in energy and commitment, which they maintained throughout”