REVIEW: Ready Steady Crooks! Edinburgh fringe preview at The Hen and Chickens 17 & 18 July 2025
“A show with stellar potential, which will make you laugh even if you’re not sure why.” ★★★★
The Hen and Chickens is fast becoming the go to theatre for comedy. Its position on Highbury corner in Islington is no doubt a best seller in itself, but the pub, and the people who run it just have that theatrical vibe. It might also be on the money for Islington types (politically traditionally left wing but shall we say that these days this might be more accurately expressed as ‘articulate’). It’s exciting, and this offering from Ready Steady Crooks, (cleverly also the name of their show), is quite enthralling. It’s wacky but if this doesn’t thrill, then it’s worth noting that it has moments of sheer brilliance.
The trio of crooks, Head Chef, Sous Chef and Pot Washer, have an adventure which produces plenty of laugh out loud moments. What is the best place for crooks? What does every establishment have? Why a kitchen of course. So, the trio are ideally placed to steal – but they only steal what they can cook.
Naturally there are other important characters, Bendy Wendy, the mother of Pot Wash, who dies. That is when Sous steps in to adopt him and becomes the dad. The plot is as thin as a wafer and is merely a vehicle for the comedy. There’s potential here for the culinarian threesome to go on other adventures, probably at Christmas for there is something of the pantomime here.
A huge dollop of adult humour but not totally without pathos (potentially), cross dressing, dad dancing and ridiculous costumes. It’s rather more refined and verging on Monty Python brilliance.
With an episodic style, the scenes reflect contemporary culture without flinching at the more embarrassing side (to an English person anyhow). The scene in the club, which Pot Wash announces has ‘sticky floors’ and ‘sticky walls’ and ‘there’s an upstairs’, seems to make this an ideal venue from his adolescent point of view. It is where he meets a girl he likes, (who turns out to be dad in drag), leading to a prolonged, but shoddily achieved, masturbation scene, but the semen had a pretty good role in the show following that.
With meta-theatre jokes, references to film heists, and occasionally using the audience as stooges (without them ever leaving their seats), the humour is multi-layered.
Whilst it’s not really polite to have favourites, it’s okay to admit to being super impressed with Luke Clarence Johnson purely for the ingenious comedy that resulted from his contribution. A method actor can always play any role. The largest of the three personalities, and physically taking up more space, as Sous he sports a moustache, gesturing toward the camp and at the same time, the masculine. He wonderfully plays against type, leaning into the heterosexual, confounding expectations and resulting in quite few laughs. Added to this, is his character from the Caribbean, also beautifully realised (and over the top). Why is it so funny? Could it be the hyper-perfection of his jump from British public school voice to another world, or maybe a meta-theatre joke about actors of colour, all too often only being cast in racial roles. Whatever, it was certainly taking the piss.
Confounding our prejudices is a great trope in the show, but so too is the over sensitivity towards racism excellently highlighted in this comedy. The show doesn’t shy away from offence, it’s sacrilegious content (Genesis, and New Testament), is again verging on Monty Pythonesque absurdity. As if this isn’t enough, it also has visual gags, musical gags and a doorbell.
As this isn’t a sketch show, it might benefit from a better and clearer plot which would add a satisfying story to the cannon of comedy. If this isn’t what the performers want, then would it be possible to give more depth of definition to Pot Wash and Head Chef (Sous already comes across as a powerful presence). It just needs that smidge of extra clarity, to add polish to an already greatly entertaining show.
Ready Steady Crooks!
Edinburgh Fringe:
Venue: Greenside @ riddles Court – Thistle Theatre (Riddles Court 322, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2PG)
Dates 18th till 23rd of August 2025
Time: 7:35pm
Ticket Prices: £12/£11 concessions
Venues Box Office: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/ready-steady-crooks
Suitable for ages 14+
Written and performed by: Benjamin McMahon (The Play That Goes Wrong WEST END), Luke Clarence Johnson (Sion Hill’s music video “Could Have Had It All”) and Sam Stafford (The Mousetrap WEST END).
