Nick Hall: Szgrabble!

A sometime stand-up and sketch actor, Nick Hall is once again embracing character comedy for this one-man, energetic, if none-too-original spoof of Cold War espionage thrillers. The year is 1981 and the World Scrabble Championships have acquired tremendous significance, with the Russians seeing victory as a major propaganda coup. British champions are being assassinated, a mole has infiltrated MI6 and the authorities are resigned to conceding the competition. Until, that is, a mild-mannered agent from the stationary department, Arthur Fenchurch, bumbles into the breach like a deer in headlights.

What follows is a knockabout tale of femmes fatales, rogue agents and the broadest European caricatures which Hall throws everything at – visual gags, puns, furious mugging and even his own James Bond-style theme tune, constantly breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge the ridiculousness of his endeavour. Despite his obvious exhaustion by the end, he clearly has fun with the hoary clichés of the spy genre and his enthusiasm carries a few patchy scenes that invariably seem closer in source material to Austin Powers than Bond or Jason Bourne, much less John Le Carré. The Scrabble twist doesn't add anything new and he could unquestionably benefit from a critical director who might excise some of the more superfluous plot points. Regardless, this is undemanding, early afternoon schlock. And you can't fault him for resourcefulness, with his minimalist, desk lamp lighting cloaking his stage in noirish shadow. Or commitment either, to a running gag, or looking like a prat.