Found in a charity shop and was curious about it :)

Tough to rate overall, because I thought Gasping was brilliant—corporate satire about privatising air, which is hideously prescient!

But his dialogue throughout...? Just find his style of comedy needlessly raunchy and not that funny? Like he deliberately goes on little riffs in order to add jokes in where the story would be more efficient without them, and I didn't enjoy any of them. It's like getting cornered by a weird uncle at a party who turns everything into a bad innuendo.

And I found the messages of the other two plays much thinner, which justified the bad jokes even less. Especially because there's such a nastiness to all the characters that I found it hard to care what happened to them—not even to see them get comeuppance.

I bet that if I was in a theatre watching these, and heard the delivery of the jokes, and was amongst a consistently laughing audience, it would take me like a week to figure out that I hadn't found it funny, haha! But it's like they say: a bad production of a good play? Sure. A good production of a bad play? Impossible.

Yeah, that's about it :)

Some really good stuff. Seriously.

I actually got to see Gasping in London starring a very young Hugh Laurie. He was brilliant. I was very fortunate.

Hooray for me. This review is now about how cool I supposedly am, which isn't nice.

I've always loved Ben Elton's TV writing, but hadn't read any of his plays. These are all brilliant and they should be produced ALL THE TIME! Especially Popcorn, which is a comedy/action story about a Quentin Tarantino-type director being held hostage by crazed Tarantino-esque fans. Perfection.

Elton in goede doen. Zwarte komedie, persiflage, uitlachamerikanen. Leuk om lezen. En toch denk ik altijd aan Blackadder.

This collection is consistently good, but Popcorn is by far the best piece in the collection. It grapples with the issue of the representation of violence in movies and who ultimately has responsibility for their actions. It is perhaps one of the most cogent and astute defences of artistic freedom in the media by invoking a practical example of reductio ad absurdum where everybody blames and sues everyone in the short conclusion. The plot follows the home invasion of a Tarantinoesque filmmaker by the Bonnie-and-Clyde-inspired Shopping Mall Killers, in a plot somewhat similar to Natural Born Killers. Tarantino was notoriously unhappy with how Oliver Stone adapted his screenplay, which covers similar themes... Perhaps this play would have appeased his artistic sensibilities more, whilst also noticing perhaps a subtle critique.

I didnt hate any of the plays. Gasping was interesting. Popcorn wasnt my favorite but I understand it's appeal. British people tend to think rather highly of England and Ben Elton is no exception. I really liked Silly Cow. It's morbid and freakier than the other two but without a body count. It's so clever. It's like the ultimate reverse Truman Show. Think long form improv for an audience of one. It's such a great idea well executed
. I would have loved to see Dawn French perform this piece of fried gold.