To describe The Summer House, it could easily come off as sounding something like the 6th movie in The Hangover Series. The Hangover 6: AWOL in Iceland. (Not to mention, a bit of Hot Tub Time Machine... in the most ridiculous way possible.) But the nuanced relationships and patter between especially the groom-to-be and his best man lives in specificities that give the whole show an authenticity and credibility unlikely for a show that features that much plastic wrap and where the characters spend most of the time in a fake hot tub wearing one-horned viking helmets.
All elements quickly unravel and then things really get crazy. We'll throw in some elements of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and some High Fidelity (especially with regards to music hashing/bickering and you've got the Time Out Four Star pick.
The show was devised by the three actor/writers, all of whom were fantastic and one of whom, Will Adamsdale, is a friend of Gordon's. We hung out at the restaurant below the Gate afterwards. It's always so nice to meet other playwrights-- and one who's even interested in musicals no less!
Will has a great on-stage quality and physicality-- his whole vibe was part young Robin Williams and part middle age Aidan Quinn. And Las Vegans, Matthew Steer, playing the fanny-pack wearing best man reminded me so much of AJ Magness I couldn't get over it.
Anyhow, it's on in London until March 24 and you can get your tickets here. I'd love to see the show in NYC, in which case, I'll make sure you NY theatre peeps get your keisters on down to LaMama or the Daryl Roth or Cherry Lane or some such like where a such like The Summer House would end up to laugh as much as I did.
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