Three Men in a Boat
River Reveries
Three Men in a Boat
by Al Smith, based on the novel by Jerome K. Jerome
Rose Theatre Productions at the Rose Theatre, Kingston until 10th October
Review by Gill Martin
The warning was clear at the entrance to the auditorium of the Rose Theatre: This show contains strobe lights, explosions and severe maritime incompetence.
Male incompetence meets hilarious farce, slapstick humour, vaudeville theatrics and rollicking musical score in a show based on Jerome K. Jerome’s classic novel Three Men in a Boat.
The book was published in 1889, has never been out of print and has spawned a couple of movies and two TV series. Now is its enjoying a world premiere as a musical showcasing three lifelong chums Jerome, George and Harris.
It’s a friendship tested to the limit as their river holiday in a hopelessly unsuitable rowing boat sets off from Kingston-upon-Thames, home of this very theatre, to the dreaming spires of Oxford where Harris is to marry Petronella, his fiancée of a dozen years.
What can possibly spoil such an idyllic journey with writer Jerome (Jonny Weldon), doctor George (Richard David-Caine) and bridegroom Harris (Bronté Barbé); all accompanied by fox terrier Montmorency (puppeteer Calum Donald-Bruce)?
Well, not much . . . but for a thunder storm and rains of Biblical intensity, alarming ankle-biting Monty, near-starvation that can only be assuaged with rat stew and hallucinatory cheese.; not to mention an airborne attack by a lamentation of enraged swans, as pedant Jerome insists on calling them.
The revolving stage is a gift for this very physical production as the characters throw themselves, quite literally, into their parts. Thanks to John Nicholson, movement director and comedy consultant (whoever knew that was a job title?) the trio plus dog morph into a troupe of Himalayan contortionists. Anything to avoid being caught by police before a treason trial for killing the King’s swans.
The scenarios are so farcical and funny that only AI could have conjured them. No, I misread AI for Al, Al Smith, the hugely talented writer who recalls reading Jerome’s novel as a teenager. ‘I remembered it as a hilarious, gentle satire full of meandering digressions about human folly,’ he writes. With warmth, a sense of the absurd and quick-witted repartee he exposes the emotional reality behind the Victorian stiff upper lip.
Director Christopher Haydon praises Smith’s feats of ‘verbal gymnastics’ that these actors manage to tongue-twist their way through.
Older members of the audience might remember a 1970s TV version starring Michel Palin, Stephen Moore and Tim Curry. Others chuckled over a telly documentary 20 years ago featuring Dara O’Briain, Griff Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath. But press night was bursting with a new generation of theatre fans too. ‘It’s fun,’ said drama student Tom Orton.
The music and lyrics, by Grant Olding, kept pace with the crazy action. He writes: ‘I’ve found the formal elegance of the Edwardian parlour song, together with the lyrical dexterity of music hall and light operetta, to be a wonderfully playful sandpit to romp around.’
The romp was even more playful as the fourth wall came tumbling down when the stalls were targeted with apples, dead swans and a heart — thankfully all fake. When the heart was caught by a woman, Dr. George asked: ‘Are you a critic? Maybe you could do with keeping the heart!’ And when the lid on a funeral urn refused to turn a props man came on stage to oblige, to much applause.
Huge applause was lavished too on Monty, whose energetic pursuits included balls-licking, farting and pooping; plus map-devouring and swan-slaying.
Three Men in a Boat proves messing about on the River Thames (any reference to drinking her waters drew groans from the paying customers of Thames Water) can be an anthem to adventure as camaraderie conquers calamity.
Gill Martin, September 2026
Photography by Helen Murray
