The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much

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As the title suggests, this piece takes its inspiration from the cinema both in style and content, tipping a hat to the genres inhabited by the likes of Hitchcock and Tarantino.

The central protagonist has a daily routine that you could set your watch to, every minute being accounted for. As he boards the subway train, the newspapers of the female commuters drop as they enjoy the regular arrival of the handsome stranger, and we are taken through his day without a hitch or a hiccough to his strictly enforced timetable. Life is running like clockwork until, one morning, a chance encounter interrupts his routine; this has a domino effect, pitching our hero into chaos, and sets in train a series of unlikely adventures that takes him across countries and indeed, continents.

The script is very clever and humorous, even if you miss one or two of the cinematic references, taking increasingly bizarre turns as we near the denouement with a twist toward the end that many will recognise as a favourite device used by one of our most iconic modern film directors. However, it is the physical rendering of the story that is most eye-catching. The play is littered with physical set pieces that are hugely imaginative (such as the use of slow-motion movement that might burst into real-time violence) and sometimes breath-takingly performed with perfect timing employed during some fast and furious passages.

This is an extremely slick, imaginative, funny and perfectly performed piece of theatre that may well leave you gasping with admiration. Recommended.

The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much is on at

Pleasance Courtyard until August 28th (not Wednesdays)

Tickets available here