Ben Goldsmith is in character before his wonderfully silly show ‘CrimeLandTown’ even begins. Mob boss Anthony is ingratiatingly welcoming the audience as guests to his daughter’s wedding, bestowing favours on those in his orbit. It is however his daughter’s third wedding so the quality of the favours has decreased substantially. Just as we’re getting into this fleet-footed bit of crowd work an extended volley of gunfire rings out – comically extended – and the mobster slumps to the floor. The death opens up a void in the CrimeLandTown underworld and Goldsmith embodies several of the characters who may have a stake in its future.

From that opening Goldsmith proves a versatile talent, jumping in and out of characters and various accents with nimble aplomb. Even if you haven’t seen the specific ’70s classics to which ‘CrimeLandTown’ refers, you’ll have become familiar with the archetypes through cultural osmosis. There’s the Brando-esque Don, there’s a French master thief named Jean Valjean (not in any way related to his namesake from Les Misérables), a bumbling MI5 agent, and Dez, a slightly pathetic lounge singer who just wants to be a gangster.

The comedy itself is as broad as Goldsmith’s wiseguy accent. From a meeting of bosses codenamed as vowels hiding out in a Welsh Scrabble factory, to a audience members being roped into a heist as Dean Martin, Gary Kemp, and Elvis Presley, and only allowed to say ‘That’s Amore’, ‘Gold‘, and ‘Uh huh huh’ respectively (If you were to say Tony Hadley was the singer of Spandau Ballet then you’d be correct, but Kemp wrote it so… fair enough). No cliche or stereotype goes unmined and physical comedy, puns, and ridiculous sound effects are utilised. Highbrow it isn’t, but it is an insane amount of fun.

Despite the frequency of costume changes the show flows with fluency and pace. During these pauses, a DJ from the local radio station gives us a running commentary with sardonic asides on the events so far. There’s something of Samuel L Jackson‘s Mr Senor Love Daddy from Do the Right Thing in its usage, adding another comedic dimension while acting as a Greek chorus for CrimeLandTown itself. It’s a nice touch, and actually is a more welcome addition to the show than the slightly irritating Dez with whom we probably spend most time.

There is the tendency with character shows that riff on familiar genres to be great showcases for their performers, but for the narrative to be secondary to the flurry of tropes and references. Goldsmith largely avoids this – although those tropes are very much present and correct – through the constant switching between characters, and by having a simple yet coherent story that even throws in some twists and turns. It even manages to comment on the baroque, operatic nature of the genre with a beautifully overblown ending. It’s a simple idea, very well executed. Does it all tie seamlessly together? Maybe not, but the fact that here we are nitpicking over the accuracy of a reference to the New Romantics in a whimsical bit of audience participation suggests that Ben Goldsmith’s been more than successful in his aim; to dress up, do some outrageous accents, and to make the audience an offer we can’t refuse – to have a really good time for an hour.

‘CrimeLandTown‘ is at Just the Tonic at The Mash House – Just the Snifter Room until Sun 25 Aug 2024 (except Mon 12) at 17:55