Simon Ward reviews EXPÖSED at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre

My heart usually sinks at the prospect of a play written by its cast. It is hard to make a piece work as a coherent whole when everyone is chipping in. But this fear is utterly unfounded with this company, who have produced that rare thing – an ensemble piece that is sharp, witty and exhilaratingly funny from start to finish.

Although loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, they have deviated from the original moral about the arrogance and pomposity of the emperor and the sycophancy of the court. It’s quite clear that in this version, no-one learns anything about themselves. Instead, it is a satire of the fashion industry where the wunderkind fashion designer known only as ‘Ze Emperor’ (Jacob Baird) is struggling to stay at the top in this notoriously fickle world. Outrageously demanding of his slavishly servile staff, he is a caricature of the worst boss imaginable. Sidekick Yanick (Ashok Gupta) and assistant Alexa (Hannah Mcleod, who also directs) vainly try to keep him happy while the hapless Maureen (Nisha Emich) is relentlessly bullied as she tries to rein in his excesses and somehow keep the company going. Designers Edna (Kiera Murray) and Johan (Nick Alexander) seem to be employed simply to be achingly cool.

Played as a kind of grown-up panto, although without the call and response, the tone is barely controlled silliness. The fact that, on the night I saw the play, Ze Emperor managed to destroy the chair he was sitting on merely added to the sense that anything could happen, and probably would. The soundtrack is classic disco pop – if anything I could have done with them leaning into that even more. There is much doubling up, not so much breaking the fourth wall as attacking it with a chainsaw, and gag after gag until you are breathless with laughter. It is not often that I find myself laughing with the sheer joy of it all. Underneath the madness we catch a glimpse of some real issues – workplace bullying, the frightening fragility of a career based on the whims of the public, the neverending pursuit of the elusive ‘cool’. They are not allowed to impinge on the fun for too long, but they do provide a framework to hang the humour on.

The question that invevitably arises when producing a show based on The Emperor’s New Clothes is how are they going to deal with the nudity. The eye-popping solution they come up with is ingenious and hilarious in equal measure. This is a gloriously silly romp, with just enough of an emotional undertow to make sure it is not just a frothy nonsense. In fact it is an utter joy, and proof that a piece devised by the cast can actually make for a great night in the theatre.

EXPÖSED ran at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, 42-44 Gaisford Street, London NW5 2ED from 17th to 21st February