Lockdown has been a difficult time for theatre people and as we're currently in our second lockdown, we're all looking for some stagey content to lift our spirits. Well, look no further than Philip Joel's Fosse Forest Ballet, the pilot of a hopeful sitcom following the creation of "the greatest panto to hit the West End", featuring guest stars Louise Dearman, Kerry Ellis and Oliver Savile. 

This is all thanks to Joel's hilarious online sketches in the early days of lockdown, in which he created characters that any "theatre geek" knows; the "can I just stop you right there" director, or the agent who's only in it for commission. If you're familiar with these sketches, you'll love this pilot!

Writer David Muscat (who also features) has brought the same fast-paced comedic tone to the forty-minute piece, which we can definitely hope gets picked up somewhere for a series! And if you aren't familiar, that doesn't matter, you'll still enjoy this forty-minute love letter to the arts industry that we all so desperately miss. 

We follow a group of three actors played by Zoe Birkett, Tosh Wanogho-Maud and David Muscat, who are passed around "a pleth- a ple- a *lot*" of Philip Joel's characters, seven to be exact! The comedic ability is clear and the characters created are relatable. It makes for very easy viewing. 

There's definitely potential for a series here. Shorten the episodes to twenty minutes and you get a wonderfully fast-paced comedy; a stagey version of The Office that has jokes for casual and die-hard theatre fans alike. Directed by Racky Plews, if you look around you can see the attention to detail that makes this world all the more complete. If a series does get made with a larger budget, this would only be funnier. 

All actors/crew members involved with this pilot should be applauded for persevering through ever-changing coronavirus guidelines to create this. And it's all going to raise money for Acting For Others and the Theatre's Trust. So why not spare £3.49 and be entertained by Philip Joel, Philip Joel, oh, and Philip Joel.

I had the pleasure of talking to Joel just weeks before the pilot's release. He said "There's already a plot that's written if it does get picked up into a series, yeah, we'll see! ... but even if it goes to a pilot and we never see it again, I'm grateful for the opportunity, definitely."

So there you have it, click here to watch and enjoy! 

****’ 4 1/2 stars

Reviewed by: Callum Wallace