A Brief Case of Crazy – Hull Truck Theatre

On Thursday evening, I sat for an hour at the Hull Truck Theatre, watching three performers who never uttered one word – and I laughed from start to finish.

The three – writer, director and producer Rowan Armitt-Brewster as Thomas, Samuel Cunningham as Simon and Lennie Longworth as Daisy – mimed all the way through a production of A Brief Case of Crazy; I never knew miming could be so energetic.

Their shenanigans took place in the theatre’s small Godber Studio amidst a stage setting featuring a large orange filing cabinet, orange seating on wheels, a static painting of colourful buildings on the right, plus a huge round light centre stage which I took to be a railway tunnel, as a lot of the action takes place in and around what could be the Tube (that’s how I saw it, anyway). Not forgetting the brief cases.

The opening sequence sees the three on their commute, Daisy and Simon are seated, black brief cases to hand and wearing bowlers on their heads. Spectacle wearer Thomas looks out of place in his hand-crocheted, patterned tank top and lunch bag with his name across the front in big letters, and it takes him a while (in very amusing scenes) to be seated.

Nervous and awkward, he first sits on Simon’s knee then on Daisy’s and it’s a long time before he plonks himself down between the two.

That’s when he gets the audience’s sympathy vote – he’s not as daft is he looks.

Simon is the baddie in all of this. As office manager over Thomas and Daisy, he often picks on poor Thomas (altogether now, aw), even more so when he finds out the tank top wearer has a secret crush on colleague, Daisy.

As the calendar ticks down to Daisy’s leaving date on the 30th, panic-stricken Thomas tries ever harder to pluck up the courage to let Daisy know how he feels about her; while Simon tries ever harder to cruelly keep the two apart.

The brief cases play a major part in the couple’s hoped-for romance – flowers and love notes are secreted inside them at times. And one case seems to take on a life of its own, especially when Thomas tries to leave – he is always dragged back by the unmoving article.

Sometimes the stage lights go out completely while he opens a case, which emits a glowing light from within as if it has a life of its own.

I won’t reveal if true love conquers all, but I can tell you it’s a very amusing journey to reach its conclusion.

The three performers, from Skedaddle Theatre, entertained us with a bit of slapstick, especially with the filing cabinet drawers, mime, choreography, puppetry and general clowning around.

The mime, for instance, was accompanied by the appropriate sound for that action, for example, the clip of scissors during a hair cut, the buzz of a fly, a seagull’s squawk, knees knocking and many, many more. These sounds were very, very well timed, so bravo to the back-stage person responsible.

The choreography was quite professional, I wouldn’t be surprised if Strictly beckons. All three were so energetic and in time with each other, they left us quite breathless. And after all that, Armitt-Brewster showed us how good a tap-dancer he is.

One stand-out, and quite sad moment, came when a small, bespectacled puppet of Thomas arrived, wearing a teeny crocheted tank top (so cute), showing him as a boy being bullied at school, his mum taking out her hanky to soothe his knee from when he was pushed over.

He still had that hanky as a grown-up (cue more sympathy for Thomas).

But that was the only thought-provoking, serious moment – the rest was a laugh a minute.

Still on a puppet theme, when Thomas opens the office window a huge seagull comes flying in, feathers flying everywhere, especially when it attacks Simon. He so deserved it.

Ahead of the production, I read that A Brief Case of Crazy is inspired, apparently, by the “timeless genius of Mr Bean, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton”. I hated Mr Bean, but that didn’t deter me from heading to Hull Truck. It was the mime element that intrigued me, but a silent night it certainly wasn’t.

Although at this theatre for just the one night, Armitt-Brewster, Cunningham and Longworth are causing mayhem in theatres up and down the country until mid-October. I am sure they will receive the same rapturous applause at all those venues as they did in Hull on Thursday evening. I wish them well.

Recommended age 5+

Reviewer: Jackie Foottit

Reviewed: 17th September 2026

North West End UK Rating: