In an overly warm Smock Alley Theatre an actor explains that what we are about to see is the first and last musical of its kind. Lost the Plot specialise in improvised musicals. Using audience suggestions to create something new and fresh every night. After the introduction they get the audience to shout out locations, the stranger the better. Cheering for their favourite the audience chose a recycling centre for tonight’s production. The same happens to settle on a title, and we end up with Clean, Dry, and Loose.
Reading this you may be thinking this sounds strange or absurd. And it is. In a brilliant way. The keyboardist (Paul James Prior, on loan for the night from Bumnotes, along with actor Oisin Moran) and five actors create a play based in a recycling centre that is full of songs, mischief, and fun. A retirement party brings out crooked FBI agents with cod French accents who often hide in wheelie bins, to a USB stick that contains 7 million in bitcoin that will enable Simon Sr to fly to the moon for his retirement, leaving Simon Jr and Whitney; long standing employee and woman in love, to manage the place.
Will Simon Jr take over successfully? Will Whitney declare her love for Simon Sr? Will the FBI agents sort out their accents and succeed in their dastardly plan, or is there something more going on under the surface.
It was remarkable how they came up with ideas there and then. For those who are doubtful, the work must have been improvised. It incorporated things the audience had said and some plot changes had members of the cast rewriting lines as they went. Wearing nondescript blues and whites the actors turn into their characters with apparent ease. At times trying not to laugh, they carry the audience along with them. Sometimes the action is led by the excellent keyboardist, and at other times the actors lead the music. The movement across the stage was like watching a tide ebb and flow.
One note: the mix of improvisation, accents, songs, mean that in the future microphones might be a good idea.
An Improvised Musical taps into the essence of theatre; something that cannot be repeated or recaptured in its truest sense. Presented by Lost Improv, who (have a residency in London), it was the best hour of theatre this reviewer has experienced in a long time. If you missed this you missed out.
Reviewed 30th July 2026.
