If your dark winter evening could do with some brightening up, then I recommend this insubstantial but endearing hour and a bit of surreal comedy at the Young Vic.As you enter the studio you discover a hilariously deadpan pianist, Dylan Townley, in Regency costume behind a keyboard, standing almost completely still, staring out at the audience, who giggle when he occasionally twitches or raises an eyebrow. He's the main feature of the Edinburgh Festival style nominal set that otherwise contains different configurations of fairy lights.
He's joined on stage by an engagingly shy young man in a sparkley blue dress who blossoms as the audience respond warmly to him. This is Seiriol Davies as Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey who we learn was a cross dressing Edwardian aristocrat that squandered a vast family fortune and died penniless in Monte Carlo age 29. As a result, his family destroyed nearly every record of him after his death to erase his decadent life from their family history. As its title suggests, How To Win Against History explores whether he can overcome this to achieve a lasting legacy.
Davies, who also wrote the script, is joined on stage by the utterly charming Matthew Blake, as the Marquis's best pal, and the West End actor Alexander Keith, who brings all the wit and flamboyance of late Victorian theatre laced with a dash of Flanders & Swann to their attempt at conveying the story in a way modern musical theatre fans and drama critics will appreciate.
In my opinion they spend rather too much time worrying about this, but it gives rise to 80 minutes of clever songs analysing what we might want from the show, followed by some expertly sung West End pastiche punctuating and advancing the story. Throughout, the three embody the determination of geeky young men obsessed with putting on fabulous little shows despite the public's indifference or disdain.
The psychological and biographical detail is sketchy; highlights include our hero gutting the family chapel to make a theatre and plastering his unfortunate but ultimately loving wife with jewels. But this enjoyable ramshackle show perfectly captures the joy and sadness of being an eccentric outsider and a love of amateur dramatics.
Did the Marquis win against history? I think we have to answer a resounding "yes". After all no other members of his family are the subject of a London show this Christmas.
The notion of pantomime is a centuries-old tradition, born out of a combination of English folklore, Italian commedia dell'arte and travelling performance. This December, in the concrete jungle of Stratford, the ritual is played out again.