The time of their lives
Do we ever really grow up? Mischief Theatre’s Groan Ups is a big-hearted comedy with some deep questions, actor Matt Cavendish tells Jeffrey Davies
WEST Country audiences will be the first outside London to see the hit West End show Groan Ups as Olivier Award-winning favourites Mischief open the inaugural UK tour of their new comedy in Bath tonight. Said to be “something a little different from Mischief”, Groan Ups is a comedy about growing up, with all the six roles played, hilariously, at each age by the same actors. We follow an unruly classroom of six-year-olds as they journey through anarchic teenage life to adulthood. “At its heart, Groan Ups is a joyful comedy, finding its fun in the madness of childhood, the agonies of adolescence and all the ridiculous things we do when we all finally pretend to be adults,” says Henry Lewis, who co-wrote the show with Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. Something a little different from Mischief? “I suppose the main difference is this is much more of a straight play. It’s still a comedy. But whereas the previous Mischief shows have all been real flat-out farces, this one has elements of character comedy and deeper storylines. It’s just a different type of show. You’d identify it as more a play than a farce,” Matt Cavendish, who plays Simon, told me enthusiastically. And it’s had some great reviews – with critics praising it as “full of joy and humour” and “top class”. “Absolutely. It’s a really fun show with a really big heart. And quite charming. It’s a character comedy essentially about a group of what starts out as six-year-old kids. We join them over the course of their lives; from their first year at school and again when they’re 13 or 14. Then we join them later when they’re at a school reunion aged 31. You get to know these characters. You see how they change. You also see how their storylines all start to intertwine and come together in the reunion.” An interesting idea. The audience seeing the characters growing and developing before their eyes on stage, I remarked.