Three Men in a Boat

A new stage version of Jerome K Jerome’s classic Victorian comic novel Three Men in a Boat doesn’t obviously scream cutting edge, and clearly there’s a certain cosy charm to staging it in Kingston, which features prominently in the satirical story of a two-week boating trip up the Thames. And to be clear, there’s no shame in that: the book remains delightful. But actually the Rose’s big autumn show looks interesting. Directed by Christopher Haydon, it’s adapted by Al Smith – best known for his association with the Royal Court – with songs by Grant Olding (who wrote the music for One Man, Two Guvnors) and physical comedy from John Nicholson of Tweedy’s Massive Circus. More intriguingly it’s billed as ‘Jeeves and Wooster meets Apocalypse Now’, which just sounds like a lot of fun.