Series review: Staged

Branching out into things I never would have considered watching continues in the reviewing era. I was always a big fan of David Tennant; Michael Sheen I’d seen around but seeing him in this way was definitely a first for me. The idea that spurred the concept of ‘Staged’ was a handful of people deciding to make use of the lockdown and get ahead by rehearsing a play over video calls.

The hilarious elephant in the room is that the sole objective is tiptoed around and procrastinated throughout the whole thing, which results in the series being a mix of bored conversations and serious personality clashes. This has very strong similarities to the UK version of ‘The Office’, in the sense that the humour in the whole thing is very subtle and awkward, but also because it takes a little while in to get it. I must admit had I reviewed this after 2 episodes I would have wondered what the point was, but later on I found that I was genuinely laughing at jokes and behaviours I’d never laughed at. While not being the funniest of situations, the things you laugh at in this series are all very new things.

Like many comedy duos, there was an outrageous character and a slightly more grounded character, Michael was eased in as the eccentric personality here, with David being the slightly more relatable one. It must be said that Michael’s small facial expressions and personal nuances were actually brilliant, I didn’t feel like I was watching a series, I felt like I was witnessing this person for real.

This is far from the most exhilarating watch, but who signed up to this for that? It’s a tame, fun little miniseries with a piggy bank budget and what I suspect to be plenty of input from multiple talented actors. I really enjoyed seeing the sides of these actors, even if I’m still not sure if they’re real or not.

Rating: 7.5/10