Writer: Ben Everett Riley
Director: Oneikeh Campbell
Writer/performer Ben Everett Riley was a children’s entertainer for six years, and it’s apparent that he has drawn upon many real-life experiences in his solo comedy show about Will, an expert in the field.
True, the show starts off with an unsubtle fakeout, as Riley talks about his life, travelling across London to entertain clients with very specific demands for cash-in-hand payment, as if his job is something far more adult. But a quick costume change into a superhero outfit is a fun way to get into the story’s meat as Will narrates his escapades.
Riley juxtaposes the horrors of Will’s day job – demanding, unruly kids, parents swigging prosecco while they treat the entertainer as a glorified nanny for the day – with more adult fare. From cheap costumes splitting in the most unfortunate of places to receiving passes from a lascivious married father, the juxtaposition of the childlike with the very adult works well.
Whether that is enough to maintain an hour of solo performance is another matter. Structurally, Riley’s plotting contains plenty to propel the story along. Will is asked to mentor an attractive RADA graduate as a newcomer to the company he works for, only to find that they quickly usurp him. Will’s reluctance to admit that he is in something of a rut, and may not even be the expert entertainer he portrays himself as being, contains a strong skeleton on which to hang some anecdotes.
But it is in the anecdotes themselves, and Riley’s telling thereof, that the weaknesses begin to emerge. Some of the other characters that Riley introduces speak in various nondescript phraseology that affords them no real character of their own. That same sense of flatness extends also, at times, to Will’s own inner monologue. That contributes to an air of overfamiliarity and repetition within the piece, especially in the back half of the play as much of the script loses the pep and originality with which it started.
Some other elements feel superfluous, even counterproductive. A case in point is a series of protracted references to Will’s new coworker, whom he first knows as Fionn but, upon finally meeting them face to face, discovers that it’s pronounced “Finn”. There’s a weak throwaway joke about the discrepancy that would need to be far bigger and funnier to become a true payoff, not helped by Riley slipping and making references to Finn before the reveal – but ultimately this is a sequence which probably reads better on the script page than it does in performance.
It’s little matters like that which niggle at the edges of a play which has the potential to be something really charming, entertaining and fun. At the end of the play’s first (only mildly disastrous) children’s party, the birthday boy runs up to Will and, instead of terrorising him further, gives him a big hug. He has loved the performer despite all the flaws. Alas, as adults, that’s a much harder reaction to achieve.
Runs until 6 June 2026
