“Murray’s King Charles is a tyrant and a sleazeball, pointing to women in the audience and ordering his footmen to bring them to his room. Other characters seem as priapically preoccupied, but Nye’s sexed-up script brings a welter of beached innuendoes.”
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"That it works as well as it does at times is no mean feat, but, lacking a strong raison d’etre besides giving us a nibble of history and a few baubles of mirth, this interloper’s reign looks set to be short-lived and immemorable."
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“It feels closer to panto or sitcom. However the pacing is far too sluggish, and the overreliance on knob gags gets tiresome. It’s also hard to figure out the tone: It’s generally quite cartoonish, but with sudden dashes of sex and violence.”
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“ ‘The Crown Jewels’ is a frustrating show to watch. In theory, they have all the elements needed to create a winning piece of theatre...It’s worth it if only to see such stunning talent in surprising roles. ‘The Crown Jewels’ might not have successfully stolen my heart but it isn’t the worst crime to hit a West End stage in recent years.”
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“It’s telling that the funniest moments in the show come when Murray and Giedroyc are allowed to just improvise.No script could dull their sparkle, even when ’The Crown Jewels’ elsewhere struggles to shine.”
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“ ‘The Crown Jewels’ often feels like a pantomime for grown-ups...it is hard to envisage what the future could be for ‘The Crown Jewels’ as the writing is so specific to its cast. This silly, smutty and star-studded comedy is certainly a fun and flirty night at the theatre.”
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With a star-studded cast, and some performers multi-roling throughout, it has the potential to be a great show – but isn’t polished enough to sparkle like the aforementioned jewels. The main issue with the production is the script. The plot feels forgotten about at times, there is a lack of wittiness, and jokes are sometimes crass and crude, but in an entirely predictable way – the humour, unfortunately, feels tired very quickly.
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“the two hour running time (including interval) has about twenty minutes of story. The rest of this ‘heist’ is an excruciatingly unfunny exercise in making the audience feel slightly less resentful at having paid money for an experience akin to being tortured in the Tower of London”
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