Television at the turn of the Millennium was truly like the Wild West. From shows about berating obese people into losing weight, to social experiments involving locking children in houses and seeing what happens. Boadroom tries to capture the spirit of those who made such... inspired programmes... and brings an incredibly chaotic, overwhelming and hilarious production office into the light.
Crazy, loud and it is great fun to watch
Set at TV studio Skinny Productions' Reality TV office as regulars Carl Terry and Michael are joined by new hires Warren and Mary, and begin to prepare new pitches for the 'Commissioners'. Even before the word go, the chaos of the show is evident, from insane scrawlings on a white board to bras littering the set, the insane energy the show brings is on display in every facet – and it is a delight to see. This all accompanied by a soundtrack of the Scissor Sisters and other iconic 2000's hits which creates a mood that is not only perfect within the context of Boardroom's time period, but one where you can easily understand why an office as insane as this would produce the ideas it does.
The acting as well is just as incomprehensible in all the right ways. The three seasoned execs are each more unhinged than the last and it makes any interaction between them, or with the new hires hilarious. Leah Pollard as Carl brings a constant coked-upped manic energy to nearly every word he says, even when he is at his most reserved and lowest he is still completely insane and hilarious to watch, pitching the most dangerous, cruel, yet authentic reality TV shows for the period. Calum Blackie's Terry is a similar standout for the opposite reasons. Looking like he doesn't know what the word sober means and wielding a cricket bat like his life depends on it, the pair of them crashing together and with the other casts members is never not brilliant to watch.
Boardroom is hilarious. It is crazy, it is loud, it is all encompassing and it is great fun to watch. If you even looked at a television at some point in 2006 this play will be for you. Its chaos is meticulously crafted, its setting is insane yet played perfectly for laughs, and despite its small staging, it feels larger than life.
