Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain
Closed 1h 30m
Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain
71%
71%
(45 Ratings)
Positive
55%
Mixed
38%
Negative
7%
Members say
Funny, Clever, Entertaining, Disappointing, Quirky

About the Show

In this new comedy, it’s 1942, and a horde of Yankee servicemen have just arrived in England where the locals speak a strange dialect, boil all their food, and talk endlessly about the weather.

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Critic Reviews (17)

BroadwayWorld
April 27th, 2019

"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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Lighting & Sound America
April 22nd, 2019

"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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New York Stage Review
April 21st, 2019

"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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Theater News Online
April 23rd, 2019

“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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TheaterScene.net
April 28th, 2019

"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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Theatre is Easy
April 26th, 2019

"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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Theater Pizzazz
April 21st, 2019

"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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Front Row Center
April 22nd, 2019

"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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