Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: David Mitchell, Gemma Whelan.

Satire begs no mercy, and when it is aimed quite rightly at those to whom are pompous enough to believe they are untouchable, then the joke is made sweet, it pricks the conscious and deflates the ego to the point where rarely does the subject recover from the blow inflicted.

The oppressors and the masters deserve such ridicule, in a world without revolution how else are the general public, the backbone of the country, meant to find an avenue of expression which brings the supercilious and the arrogant to their knees. However, it is one thing to make the haughty, the powerful look stupid, and quite another to make others look foolish, and unless it is done with absolute care, the mockery can be deemed not to be ironic, but dangerously condescending.

In a year where we have seen both the best and worst of humanity, of society dragging itself into the mire, of examples of greed, cowardice, and the refusal to believe in a cause, and its mirror image in generosity of spirit, of compassion and charity all dominating our thoughts, to lampoon the actions of 2020 is perhaps not only the right thing to do, but one that will hopefully prick the inflated egoes of those who see as their right to demand that inequality, imbalance and discrimination, must be allowed to continue. To satirise the country is the right of the author, to bring to attention the absolute cravenness of our situation and how we never truly learn the lesson being taught, is the voice of reason.

Ben Elton may offend some sensibilities with his Christmas offering of Upstart Crow, the ingeniously titled, Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow: A Lockdown Christmas 1603, however, it takes courage to bring to mind the parallels of our own predicament with those who arguably suffered worse conditions during the many occasions in which plague has visited these shores; it also takes beautiful devilment to show how at times we in the present day have let ourselves down, that whilst it may be understandable to panic, to defy reason, we must consciously do more to make society a grander, finer affair, rather than see it for the joke it has become.

The strength of the show comes in the marvellous acting relationship that David Mitchell as William Shakespeare and Gemma Whelan as his landlady’s daughter, Kate, have built up, and whilst it would have had more of spirit of Christmas surrounding had the whole ensemble been able to attend, the fact that these two sterling actors carried off a tightly woven exposition of the way we all probably feel deep down as this year in particular, bows out.

Satire is not for everyone, and we could all do with a comedy or two to make the most of what has been a year to never forget, but in satire we see ourselves, sarcasm is but folly, ridicule is for the school yard bully, satire is for reminding us not to descend to the level of the pompous and foolish.

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow: A Lockdown Christmas 1603 is not the comedy we were expecting, but it is the one we should look to for giving us a greater chance in 2021.

Ian D. Hall