This Review is from August 2025

The Mayor and his Daughter confront a crisis in their village. Their discovery of a Russell Howard’s Good News box set inspires them to restore their community through comedy. The show is a meta blend of sketches, songs, and rituals that reimagine classic comedic tropes. It’s experimental and extremely rewarding when it pays off. Not all of it does though.

It was probably just me, but the mayor character, played by Ciaran Chillingworth, was deeply irritating. At the end of every sketch, he would look out at the audience and instruct, “and react”. After hearing this several times, my honest reaction would have had me thrown out the building or possibly arrested.

Still, there was much to enjoy. The daughter, played by Kit Finnie, made a great foil for the father, the mayor. She did have all the best lines, performing all the best visual gags and so receives the biggest laughs. I just wish her character had gotten the better of her male counterpart sooner and more often.