If You're Feeling Sinister. Lightswitch Productions. Central Hall Grimsby. 29 July 2025.

One of Grimsby's newest theatre companies is bringing a brand-new comedy to the stage on Friday August 1st and they invited me to their dress rehearsal to watch their show, to get some photos and to review their work. Having produced three shows previously, this ambitious young company is a fresh and welcome addition to the local scene. This time they have written their own show - the anarchic comedy show If You're Feeling Sinister.

Its not one for the easily offended and bears comparison to a show like Jerry Springer: The Opera. It pokes fun at religion but seeks to rationalise the arguments for and against belief in a script that whips along at a great pace. If you like the ensemble work of the Six Idiots behind Ghosts and other shows, you should enjoy this crazy cast of misfits in a locally-based comedy.

To be fair to the cast, they had only just gained access to the venue and were still trying to iron out the technical glitches when I saw them and this did have some impact on the pacing of the show that I saw, but hopefully all of these will be ironed out before Friday's performance. I simply take my hat off to the team at Lightswitch for making fresh, new, original work for the stage and doing so on a zero budget where they have had to beg, steal and borrow to make this show happen.

It opens on a typically messy shared flat where we meet the lazy, indolent Clive played by Charlie Henderson, resplendent in his boxer shorts and Grimsby Town shirt. Clive is a slob. To do anything other than smoke weed and watch endless repeats of Mr Men videos is too much effort. Henderson's characterisation of Clive belies the fact that he wrote the piece for this cast.

By contrast, his flatmate Anthony, played by Huxley Cunningham, is an effortlessly cool, suave ladies' man obsessing over how he looks and preparing for date with a church-going good girl. Cunningham gives a confident performance as Anthony. The banter between the two boys indicates that they both understand each other and are happy housemates but neither will ever truly take a leaf out of the other's book.

Taking leaves out of books would be too much effort for Clive anyway, much to the disappointment of Belle, his heavy metal-loving but sexually-frustrated girlfriend played by Izzy Hibbard. Hibbard's Belle is a feisty and lusty young woman with a voracious appetite for carnal knowledge - a role she seems to have immense fun in playing. Just as the male characters contrast, so too do the objects of their affection.

Anthony's girlfriend Hillary played by Scarlett Steed-Lewis, has persuaded him to join her at her church - a slightly dubious, unnamed denomination led by the overbearing and over-zealous Reverend Cummings (Will Smith). Hillary is sweetness personified until the church delivers its verdict on the man of her dreams, causing the rebel in her to kick in a touch. Stead-Lewis plays both sides of her character with great believability.

Smith's Cummings is suitably OTT and yells and barks like a man on a mission to convert everyone to his religion might. It is a really commanding performance that will have the audience in stitches. Assisting the Reverend in his mission is nerdy altar boy Saul, played with affable geekiness by Charlie Walker whose tragic backstory plays into his current situation. Walker brings great comic charm to the role.

The fourth member of the church that we meet is a brash American, the rootin' tootin' cowgirl that is Mary an avowedly devout Christian who may actually have ulterior motives for her heavy involvement in the church. Rylicia McDonald does a fabulous job keeping up the accent throughout and knows how to twist the incredibly naive Saul around her little finger. The way McDonald teases Walker throughout is perfect.

I really don't want to give the game away by saying too much more about the story as spoilers truly will spoil your enjoyment of the mayhem that is to come but there are some really great performance from within the cast and I was reminded of one of my guilty pleasures, the movie Reefer Madness filmed in 1936 and released in 1938.

This "shocking" film, unintentionally hilariously, sought to warn parents about the influence of marijuana on their rebellious teenagers. It is so bad its good. It was later turned into a cult movie musical. To say that I was reminded of Reefer Madness is a good thing in my book because it makes me chuckle just thinking about it and audiences will do the same watching IYFS from Lightswitch.

When Smith's Reverend Cummings truly unloads his anger on the sinful among the cast, I was reminded of John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, berating his car in Fawlty Towers but these guys are too young to know what I was referring to when I mentioned all the influences I thought I saw in the show. They really throw themselves into the mania of the story and play it big, brash and broad as is required in a very zany play.

I have to say that if you want to know more of the story, you really have to go to see it for yourself because even if I chose to describe the plot and the madcap shenanigans that follow, you would probably assume that I had either been smoking something when I saw the show or wrote the review.

For technical support Ellie Stothard richly deserves a mention, as she strove to deal with tech that she was unfamiliar with and did a sterling job on the fly as she seeks to improve it for Friday's performance operating both sound and lights. And finally Cameron Bonner who provided dramaturgical support at the rehearsal making notes for the players on stage and is an equally important member of this ensemble.

So why not treat yourselves and get some tickets to see the next generation of talent emerging from the Grimsby area. They won't be around for long as a number of cast members leave for university in September and I am sure they will go on to bigger things. Catch them while you can, If You're Feeling Sinister runs at Grimsby's Central Hall for one night only on Friday 1 August.

Andy Evans for Review Culture 30 July 2025.

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