REVIEW | Cheesey Cheesey Catchy Mousey
★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Bronagh
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
The last few years have been bonkers; global warming, pollution, numerous crises and the less we say about the British Government the better. It is undeniable that the media has a huge part to play in all of this. I’ve completely lost count of how many times I’ve followed major news live on Twitter, how many opinion pieces I’ve read on The Guardian and how many times I’ve Wikapedia-ed things such as ‘list of British Prime Ministers’ and ‘Effects of Brexit’. Cheesey Cheesey Catchy Mousey promises to be a ‘dark comedy about the media about what it feels like to be in a social media rabbit hole’, looking at the ‘concept of truth in today’s world’.
Sam, played by Helder Fernandes, is our main character who has a big question – do mice really like cheese? Or have we been lied to from childhood, stemming from the typical cartoon of a mouse munching on a chunk of cheddar? Sam is joined by his mum (Janet, played by Anya Sayadian) friend (AJ, played by Nikhanise Phiri), teacher (Mr Richards, played by Ben Keenan) and the Cheesemonger (Gabriel, played by Jacob Lovick), all of who magically appear throughout. When Sam can’t get a straight answer from any of these four, he goes on a quest to find out the answer and has some interesting encounters on the way. Janet, AJ, Mr Richards and Gabriel double as personifications of media platforms; Wikipedia begging for donations, vegan Channel 4, ‘woke’ Guardian and a know-it-all BBC. They come out with things that really, we probably would associate with the respective platform which is entertaining. The interactions they have with one another is also amusing, especially when the Daily Mail is thrown into the mix. Sam is caught in the middle of all of this, deafened by the noise of the media.
Cheesey Cheesey Catchy Mousey is interactive, with audience members encouraged to use their phones to vote throughout, and volunteers are asked to stay behind in the interval to record a few words which are then played back in Act 2. Interactive shows are seemingly becoming more common, and Cheesey advertised this beforehand to ensure audience members had scanned the QR code ready to vote at given times. This was quite fun but didn’t particularly shape the character’s journey as we were told it would.
Sam repeats the same four words over and over – ‘Do mice like cheese?’. This is funny to begin with, and actually quite a good question. However, after roughly fifteen minutes we do get the point yet those four words are still repeated over and over. Sam is obviously just an ordinary 19-year-old searching for answers getting answers he doesn’t want, such as references to nuns in Greece, do French cheese like camembert and what did mice eat before cheese. This does get tired, and unfortunately shows a lack of development, particularly in Sam’s character.
The writing is very much split down the middle. Some points are especially funny, such as Gabriel’s exasperation at why he is even there being a standout for me, as well as Anya Sayadian appearing in her dressing gown saying that she ‘will not play Onlyfans’. Other points just lacked depth for me personally; the script is clearly meant to be self-aware, but the references to reviewers in the audience, the writer and ‘it’s a play’ do get slightly tiring when repeated. Some topics get thrown about, such as the likes of Brexit, pronouns and Meghan Markle, however, nothing meaningful is said and clearly just there for a quick laugh.
Cheesey overall was entertaining, but just not quite there yet for me. The cast are excellent, and deserved the round of applause that they got at the end. With a few tweaks here and there it could really develop into a genuinely thought provoking show.
