HOSTAGE at the Etcetera Theatre

★★★★

“the overwhelming comedic talent exhibited makes for an enjoyable and hilarious performance”

Hostage is a show about artistic integrity. It’s about creative collaboration and the sanctity of theatre…It’s about a disgruntled playwright who breaks out of prison to threaten his former collaborators into performing the story as he sees fit. We’ve all been there. Created by Bad Clowns Comedy, Hostage is a comedy which utilises spontaneity, energy and badly choreographed sex scenes, “Two sock puppets falling out of a window”, to fill its hour with laughs.

The play uses a cold open to introduce us to Christian (Christian Dart) and John (John Bond), egotistical and hapless actors performing the “Worrisome Troubles of Timothy Potts” (no relation to yours truly). Sam (Sam Walls) escapes from prison and forces the cast and audience into adhering to his artistic vision. Between scenes from the titular Timothy Potts’ life come interactions between hostage, captors, police and ‘Bubbles’ the sound operator (Johanna Dart). The piece closes with a hearty original musical number and a somewhat abrupt finish to the chaos. Its set consists of a small table and chair as part of the ‘Timothy Potts’ biopic piece that is aptly ignored. The show includes humour about theatre making and practical effects with plenty of flour in pockets and human door handles, comparable to ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ or ‘Noises Off.

The story includes ample references to reviewers and theatre conception, creating a self-deprecating meta relationship with the audience. When they started accusing audience of being reviewers I promptly closed my notebook. Audience participation is a major instrument as the characters call on viewers and build on their responses as part of the piece. The cast of Bad Clowns keep energy at 300% throughout, delivering well-crafted gags. Dart and Walls portray co-writers/directors settling old scores with Bond depicting everything from waiter to furniture with commendable commitment and a hilarious pay-off.

With some technical improvements, Hostage could be elevated. A clear distinction between the performance of ‘Timothy Potts’ and the unfolding hostage situation could be better conveyed with differences in execution such as sound effects being more obviously ‘bad quality’ in the Timothy Potts performance and phone calls from the police being more realistic. This is especially important as both moments are depicted with equally heightened drama and comedy. Furthermore, corpsing (breaking character by laughing) intentionally and later corpsing unintentionally can reduce the impact and rapport established with the audience. With all characters being thespians, the heightened energy levels and sincere lack of menace make the piece absurd, silly and thoroughly entertaining.

Hostage as a concept is unique and well-conceived. There are elements for improvement to establish the ‘rules’ of the meta show however the overwhelming comedic talent exhibited makes for an enjoyable and hilarious performance. Hostage is a satirical and ultimately bonkers send up of playwrights and actors. Bond delivers a quiet but scene stealing performance as a dispensable ensemble actor thrown into a real action movie. Dart exudes liveliness and luvviness as the other half of the double act. Walls is a theatrical and menacing villain who threatens the audience almost as much as the cast. Hostage is completely unserious in the best way possible.

HOSTAGE at the Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed on 18th March 2024

by Jessica Potts

Previously reviewed at this venue:

DEAD SOULS | ★★½ | August 2023

FLAMENCO: ORIGENES | ★★★★ | August 2023

HOSTAGE

HOSTAGE

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