Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (45)
See it if you're an Anglophile [You'll find the humour/humor underneath the mostly unfunny presentation]; u don't mind awkward audience participation.
Don't see it if you expect Python-esque laughs from one of the self-proclaimed "top sketch groups in the UK", working w/material that is ripe for parody. Read more
See it if Brits Off-B'way entry. Three fish out of water with Yank accents follow directives to highlight the deep Stateside divide between cultures.
Don't see it if Don't poke (fun at) the Yanks (animals) in cages at the zoo. Writers as actors. Skit-worthy. Audience participation. Broad.
See it if Slapstick comedy, with audience involved at points.
Don't see it if If you dislike slap stick comedy. Read more
See it if and ONLY if you enjoy Brit humor & slightly slapstick comedy, Brits poking fun at Americans & vice versa, silliness, & men playing women.
Don't see it if you do not enjoy British humor and silliness, hate any audience participation, prefer musicals and drama straight up. Read more
See it if attempt at satire poking fun of US views of Brits based on instructions given to U.S. servicemen in WWII; very funny discussion of currency
Don't see it if you find audience participation annoying especially if you don't want to get up and dance in front of your seat or throw paper balls Read more
See it if You enjoy British humor. Audience participation is requested . Similar to Benny Hill comedy.
Don't see it if If you are not a fan of British humor. It is slow and indulgent.
See it if you love British humor, particularly by Brits playing Americans poking fun at Brits. There is a tenderness that ekes through that is sweet.
Don't see it if you don't want to learn anything more about behind-the-scenes WW II. Or, if Python-esque humor is not for you. These guys work hard here. Read more
See it if you enjoy seeing British comic actors playing in American stereotypes for laughs.
Don't see it if You don't know much about British culture or you don't like forced audience participation.
Critic Reviews (17)
"A hilarious and inventive play...See it while you can!...The three-person cast is remarkable with their spirited presentations and comedic talents...These three actors master the play's quick, witty dialogue and quirky characters. Audiences will love the absurd moments...There's even a bit of audience participation...A rare theatrical treat."
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"Some gags amuse, others are groaners, and still others fall into the what-were-they-thinking category. Also, the fun depends on a great deal of audience participation; if humorous interaction with actors makes you break out in hives -- yes, I'm holding up my hand -- this is one to avoid like the plague...Walton's direction keeps things moving, but did no one consider that two hours-plus might be a tad excessive for this kind of sketch-comedy frivolity."
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"In the intervening eight decades, the Bodleian publication has undoubtedly been ripe for spoofing, but, let’s face it, less so as time has passed. But perhaps even in 2019 a send-up treatment could provide a keg of laughs. If so, Messrs. March, Millard Sheahan, and Walton are apparently not the ones to do it. They’ve imagined a series of revue-type routines that tickle the elusive funny bone only at scattered moments but are far more often strained."
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“It’s one thing to emulate Monty Python, another to rip them off, as do the creators of this prolonged skit, very loosely – and louchely...As these two ugly Americans relentlessly troll for cheap laughs, there seems to be no acknowledgment on the part of the writing team...Only the third writer/performer manages to wrest a smidgen of palatable humor from the proceedings, via a chalkboard lecture on the English monetary system and a comparable intro to cricket.”
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"It's hard to imagine a more likeable play than 'Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain'. That is not damning with faint praise. It's merely the truth. Likability is in short supply nowadays and the three playwright/performers who created this comedy, based on an actual pamphlet handed to Americans during World War II, have spun the dry, inadvertently funny, official publication into a delightfully involving charmer. (Copies of the actual pamphlet are available in the lobby.)"
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"The cast of three, who co-wrote the show with their director, John Walton, come from the world of sketch comedy, and it shows. The play feels like 'Monty Python' had a baby with all the bits that go on way too long on 'Saturday Night Live.' Though its gags aren't especially original, some of them still produce giggles...If you're game for jokes about Marmite and cricket and want to get in on the cultural-stereotype action, tally-ho!"
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"A baloney-filled, rollicking comedy that has all the inherent hilarity of poking fun at cultural differences...This high-spirited night ended when the men showed us, the troops, how Brits relaxed, through Morris Dancing, a version of the Hokie Pokey with hankies. This fun-filled show was able to capture the humor of the Brits with a nod to the tribulations of war."
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"The show draws its tepid lifeblood from a 1942 booklet that was distributed by the American War Office to GIs serving overseas...The mood is not so much World War II cabaret as it is Saturday night at the nursing home...With John Walton’s keep-em-moving direction and Mr. March’s clown foolery, all moments of subtlety are decidedly missing in action."
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