'Inside No. 9 – Stage/Fright' review — this theatre spin-off mainly rehashes the TV show, but diehard fans will be happy

Read our review of Inside No. 9 – Stage/Fright, starring Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, now in performances at the Wyndham's Theatre to 5 April.

Place has always been essential to the much-loved TV show Inside No. 9, which drew to a close after nine series and 55 episodes last year. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, each episode plays out in a new setting, full of fresh characters and their stories.

It is fitting, then, that the programme's stage adaptation is reliant on the theatre itself. Staged at the Wyndham's, which is apparently haunted if you didn’t know already, it is full of melodrama, dark humour and spine-chilling frights. And in true Inside No. 9 spirit, there are several miniature worlds to dip in and out of — most of which will be recognisable already.

There’s the Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room sketch from series four, which has Pemberton and Shearsmith play the tired reuniting double-act Cheese and Crackers. We get the kidnapping skit, where a celebrity guest is captured and forced to act like a performing monkey to escape. With one changing scene after another, it is almost as if we’re the audience to several mini plays, rather than one whole.

It is both a blessing and a curse, because while the form allows Pemerbeton and Shearsmith to wander through the Inside No. 9 back catalogue, it prevents the stage show from finding a solid core. Yes, there is the constant potential for haunting; the theatre’s spirit Bloody Belle appears every so often to let out a blood-curdling scream, and the lights flicker eerily, too. But, ultimately, this is a chance for Pemberton and Shearsmith to parade their already existing material rather than create something new.

It starts off well with an introduction to the theatre and a segment on bad audience behaviour. Then, the Wyndham's Theatre’s own cursed history is told to us by Pemberton and Shearsmith. During a production of Terror in the Asylum, an actor lost her life — later we’ll see characters rehearse a revival of that same play (surprise, surprise, there are jump-scares galore).

As they recite the horror story, Pemberton and Shearsmith litter their speech with jibes at current West End shows. There’s talk of the celebrity casting of 2:22: A Ghost Story, the truly terrible Brangah King Lear, and even Jamie Lloyd’s fondness for video footage. “You can’t walk down Shaftesbury Avenue without bumping into some c*** with a camcorder.”

When Pemberton and Shearsmith play and joke like this, they’re hard to resist, though the evening is tipped in favour of an older crowd; I lost count of the amount of gags there were about the 1970s. But diehard fans are sure to be satisfied. Pemberton and Shearsmith have done their best to keep the content of their show a secret. In the advertising there is no mention of plot or what audiences might expect to see.

After the final curtain, critics receive an email asking us to “keep an air of suspense” about the whole thing. But what I can tell you is that Stage/Fright has all the classic No. 9 trimmings. Recycled gags? Tick. An element of surprise? Tick. And the cherished pair giving it their everything? Oh absolutely.

Inside No. 9 – Stage/Fright is at the Wyndham's Theatre to 5 April.

Photo credit: Inside No. 9 – Stage/Fright (Photos by Marc Brenner)