Writer: Joseph Maudsley
Director: Daniel Clarkson
What if everything you knew about the Back to the Future movie trilogy was wrong? What if the hero, the person who keeps the timelines together, was actually the putative villain? Writer/performer/stand-up Joseph Maudsley assumes the character of Biff Tannen and pushes this idea as hard as he can, in a noble attempt to recalibrate the moral judgment of three generations of moviegoers.
Actually, he comes on stage with a huge rack of costumes, a trunkful of movie-themed jokes and references, and a very effective line in co-opted audience participation.
The set-up for the show is, of course, heavily dependent on knowledge of the three movies. It’s debatable, though, whether anyone needs to know details – there’s a car that time-travels, Marty McFly is the hero, and he’s trying to rescue his family. Electricity comes into it somewhere. Without that knowledge the show might be a touch opaque, but the references come fast and furious and funny, and who cares if they’re true? There may be a temptation to go home and watch the movie to check, but anyone who does that will be immersed in a classic good-time movie, so where’s the harm?
Joseph Maudsley is a charming stage presence, has an engaging skewed perspective on his material, generates very elaborate audience participation (the first night at Wilton’s featured an air guitar break worthy of Eddie Van Halen from a wholly unrehearsed audience member that received delighted approval from stage and auditorium) and is in any event so rapid fire and gag-rich that sheer pace keeps the show on the road. It doesn’t feel important to keep the plot lines of the source material clear in their minds to keep the audience entertained.
There have been a profusion of shows that piggy-back on cultural icons – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the career of Kate Bush, Love Actually, Titanic – quirky, referential, irreverent. There are advantages to being very free with the source material, using it as a jumping-off point for gags and anecdotes. Shows that generate more intense fandoms may involve the performers in research and exact references that distance a portion of the audience. But this show really only requires that people have heard of Back to the Future and don’t hate the idea. After that, they are in the hands of an expert performer steering them and his tiny DeLorean through an excellent entertainment.
Runs until 25 April 2026
