If you like slapstick and you like Rob Brydon, this play is for you. For a limited time only The Painkiller runs at The Garrick Theatre as part of their Kenneth Brannagh season.
The basic storyline: contract killer meets suicidal divorcee. Sounds funny? It is! The set is split into two hotel rooms and the cast consist of only a handful of people. Sean Foley directs and adapts Francis Veber’s farce The Painkiller. Two men book hotel rooms next to each other, one to shoot photos – the other to shoot people. Branagh stars as the contract killer in a sleek suit and his mind set on executing his mission. Brydon on the opposite side portrays a sad divorcee who wants to take a step up in his photography career by documenting judicial proceedings rather than his usual birds. Brydon is set on getting back his wife with threats of suicide. As their paths cross the hilarity ensues. There’s too many jokes to mention, it is slapstick after slapstick. However, the whole thing has the feel of a cheesy 80s American sit-com.
High Fives & Stage Dives 