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The Statesman, A "Funny Peculiar" Satire About Free Speech And Comedy

REVIEW: The Statesman, a "funny peculiar" satirical play about free speech and comedy, on the London stage right now

Published Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:27:04 -0500

Article Summary

The Statesman satirizes free speech and comedy in an anachronistic, laughter-banned medieval village.
Peter, the outcast humorist, is forced to teach humor to villagers under a strict no-laughter regime.
The play explores who controls what is deemed funny, exposing the power behind restrictions on comedy.
Strong ensemble cast and clever staging bring energy to this thought-provoking, "funny peculiar" show.

The Statesman is a very funny satire, but "funny peculiar" rather than "funny ha ha". A deliberately anachronistic production, that looks at the impact of controlled speech, and the inevitable pretence of freedom that follows, which seems to be just as controlled a speech, under another term. How very apposite right now.

In what appears to be a Medieval village, the local laws forbid laughter, though it is tolerated from one older village member, Peter, who spends his days ostracised, sweeping the town and laughing to himself. The moment that laughter infects one person, Stash, they are ejected from the village, though Peter is not. Stash apparently finds its way to the Queen, who heads to the village to sort out this particular law, which has been in operation so long that the villagers couldn't laugh if they tried. But in The Statesman, that is what they are going to have to do. And Peter is commanded to teach them from his books, which contain all types of humour, rules, suggestions, guidelines, and scripts, including, at one point, Abbott and Costello's Who's On First.

A play about what, of who is, or is not, allowed to be found funny comes into play, whether you are Graeme Linehan or Jimmy Kimmel, it's all about the power that such restrictions expose, who gets to see what is funny, or even if you are allowed to be funny at all. And also that you really, really can't learn humour from a book. That is probably the most disappointing but also pertinent aspect of the play; as satires go, it's not actually that funny. The humour comes from David Fielder as curmudgeonly humourist Peter trying to teach the people, or Paul Westwood's Governor and his overbearing use of power, exposing his own self-hatred and fears, rather than any of the actual lessons themselves. Both despise the other, but are both dependent on the other for their imminent future survival, as well as a shared history which plays out as they are both severely tested, with Rosie Armstrong as the Queen, a further foil for their machinations, very convincingly as the true power in the play, able to execute anyone, but also only serving at the grace of the pople. But it's the ensemble cast for which this play truly lives, seeing affairs of state play out amongst the populace, who do their best to keep up while also just trying to get on with their lives. and that reminded me most of the jumps between Catholicism and Protestantism in this country, with the threat of heresy and death to those less theologically nimble. No wonder some go a bit mad and take matters into their own hands. Leah Aspden, who I saw early this year in Lost Watches, commands an earnestness of youth; Joanna Ventura, as a jobsworth guard, is utterly relatable; and Dan Nicholson, as an obsequious advisor and also the villager with the loudest and most humourless laugh, is a real treat.

The audience seated on both sides of the action does lead to some tricky staging, often obscuring a scene from one side while giving the other full view, and attempting to address both sides, the cast faces one of the walls. Still, it does bring more people closer to the stage, and sitting at the end of the front row saw me repeatedly having to move my feet or risk tripping over the cast. Which would have been slightly more interactive than they may have been going for.

Written by Joel Marlin, directed by Quentin Beroud, designed by Ismini Papaioannou, sound/lightning designed and produced by Simon Beyer and Metal Rabbit Productions, The Statesman is currently on at the Theatro Technis, Morning Crescent, London for another week.

The Statesman

Review by Rich Johnston

7/10

The Statesman is a very funny satire, but "funny peculiar" rather than "funny ha ha". A deliberately anachronistic production, that looks at the impact of controlled speech, and the inevitable pretence of freedom that follows.

Credits

David Fielder

Actor

Paul Westwood

Actor

Rosie Armstrong

Actor

Dan Nicholson

Actor

Joanna Ventura

Actor

Leah Aspden