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Steve Pemberton

Date of birth: 01-09-1967

Inside No 9 Stage/Fright

Review of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith on the West End stage

With its confined sets and small cast, the 55 varied stories under the Inside No9 umbrella have always had theatrical sensibilities.

And in the move to the intimacy of the actual stage for their post-TV swansong, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have magnified the twists and turns that won their anthology show so many fans. IRL they have more impact – and are executed with even more flair – than they do on screen, and you’ll be taken with the sheer audacity of their tricksiness.

The pair use the most theatrical of their creations as the backbone of the first half of Stage/Fright, reintroducing us to Cheese and Crackers, the washed-up 1980s double-act reunited after too long apart. If you were wondering whether you have to be an Inside No9 fan to enjoy the stage outing, the answer here is that these scenes are probably more impactful if you never knew what actually happened Inside Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room – and in that episode.

Pemberton in Cheese And Crackers scene

Suffice to say this is tender examination of double-act dynamics – both in shared laughs and gnawing rivalry – that we can only imagine Pemberton and Shearsmith have first-hand knowledge of as well as being an affectionate celebration of the world of mainstream entertainment shows

As is this stage incarnation of their act, which in the first half especially draws the best traditions of variety. There’s a standalone pre-credits style skit to set the mood, musical asides and a very direct channeling of Morecambe and Wise when they engage in some front-of-cloth banter.

Reece and Steve front of cloth

There are a couple more nods to Eric and Ernie, too, not least a sketch that allows for a guest star to join in the fun, very much in the vein of The Play What I Wrote, the more direct theatrical tribute to the duo from a quarter-century ago.

That this sketch has a slight issue with pace one of the few criticisms of a virtuoso evening of laughs and flamboyant theatrics. The other is that the 1970s mainstream references might be lost on anyone under 40. And while on paper, some of their gags may be a bit corny, they come in the finest of dressings and executed with celebratory spirits.

There are plenty of Easter eggs to please fans of the TV show, but also so much to enjoy if you’ve never watched an episode. Though in truth, tat’s probably not going to be many audience members, since the full run’s already sold out before opening night.

After the interval, the pair lean more into their horror sensibilities and give things an idiosyncratically chilling twist, drawing on the ghost stories so prevalent in theatreland and with which they are so clearly enamoured

Legend has it that the Wyndham’s Theatre is haunted by the spirit of an actress who died performing in a play called Terror In The Asylum, and in part two we get new production of that cursed work, which also opens out out the cast beyond Shearsmith and Pemberton.

This parody of gothic black-and-white melodramas draws heavily on the camp of the Grand Guignol genre: think Frankenstein with its lab with shelves upon shelves of creepy jars containing body parts as lightening cracks overhead.

Shearsmith

It’s an enjoyable parody, as well as a breezy satire on luvvidom, with some on-point in-jokes and actors variously intense, thin-skinned, passive-aggressive, nakedly ambitious and downright terrible… at least for a while. For this section contains so many meta rug-pulls, both comic and dramatic, that you’ll struggle to keep up.

However, each intricate twist is a hugely impressive coup de theatre, keeping you guessing and gasping to the end. Which, incidentally, I challenge anyone to see coming.

Stage Fright scene

And as a celebration of the genres Shearsmith and Pemberton so adore – and indeed of their contributions to them and their own relationship – Inside No 9’s Stage/Fright will surely leave you on Cloud 9.

• Inside No 9 Stage/Fright runs at Wydham's Theatre, London, until April 5. All pictures © Marc Brenner

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Published: 29 Jan 2025

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