The Three Lions

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The Three Lions is a brand new comedy from actor and writer William Gaminara, set in Zurich the night before England’s fruitless attempt to bag the 2018 World Cup. The play imagines what went on when the dubious trio of David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham came together to hash out a plan to bring football home to English soil. As far as comedy is concerned, it’s a set-up that came with its jokes pre-packaged.

And the glee of the three main actors at being presented with such fertile material is palpable. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart is great as Cameron, his squirming, spluttering performance a bewildering feat of sweaty endurance – even if he sometimes hams it up just a little too much. Sean Browne, meanwhile, bears an almost frightening resemblance to Beckham, nailing the footballer’s monotonous whine and sharp-suited vanity; while Tom Davey’s jack-the-lad William delivers easy laughs from his first appearance to his last.

The problem with basing the majority of the comedy around sending up such well-known public figures is that the jokes run the risk of growing repetitive. And indeed, there’s only so many times we can watch the exasperated Cameron trying to tease some sense out of the others before; much like the Duke of Cambridge's hair, it starts to wear thin.

Despite this, there are plenty of laughs to be had here – and like all good satires, a depressing amount of them are firmly lodged in the stinking quagmire of verifiable fact.