Review: JUMPING THE SHARK, Upstairs at the Gatehouse

A confession. On seeing the pre-set for David Cantor and Michael Kingsbury's new comedy, Jumping The Shark, my heart sank a little.

Not only did I get horrific flashbacks to staff development away-days, drinking that curious coffee that comes out of Heath Robinson machines while stickily sitting on a plastic stackable chair, but I also flashed on equally unpleasant projections forward to a play that would teach, nay, instruct me with a didactic sledgehammer. I needn't have worried!

Our punters file in. At first, they're all very familiar types: the Essex wide boy; the too-cool-for-school guy; the luvvie; the woman of a certain age who knows it; the keen one. Even the seminar leader, the exalted writer of much-loved 1990s sitcoms, is a bit of an Ian La Frenais / Dick Clement without the Geordie accent. But, pretty soon, those preconceptions start to unravel and we discover the light and shade in their characters - yep, it's all gone meta, as we learn the technique of writing sitcoms whilst being shown, in real time, the outcomes of the techniques of writing sitcoms.

The ensemble cast inevitably play it quite broad. Robin Sebastian gets his share of laughs as Gavin the actor and his scenes with Sarah Moyle's unhappy housewife Pam (who has all the best lines) are initially gruesome, but turn sweet as he learns a little humility. If Jack Trueman and Harry Visinoni's conflict resolves a mite too easily, the denouement for Jasmine Armfield's Amy and David Schaal's seminar leader is beautifully (and unexpectedly) done, as secrets spill. The man called Frank mines frank truths from his students with aplomb.

There's the feel of a pilot episode of a TV sitcom about the show (no surprise, as it's the writers' trade) and that's a testament to the robust and engaging characters they've created. We definitely do want to find out what happens next to the men and women who made us laugh, made us think and won our hearts. And that's a rare pleasure to report these days.

Jumping The Shark is Upstairs at the Gatehouse until 12 March

Photo Credit: Robert Armstrong

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