Last Updated on 25 June 2026 by Colette
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Look, after a day in school teaching 28 hot and sweaty 7yr olds in the middle of a heatwave, I’m going to hold my hands up and say I really wasn’t feeling a trip the theatre and in fact if we’d had a message to say it had been cancelled, I wouldn’t have been sad… Which means from my perspective, Manford and Co were already working on the back foot. But thanks to some effective air conditioning and a nice cold drink, by the time Shakespeare had been called a turd in the second song “God, I Hate Shakespeare” I was in and laughing – my curiosity piqued.
“The ‘90s are back! The 1590s, that is. Brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but remain stuck in the shadow of that pompous Renaissance rockstar, Will Shakespeare. When a quirky soothsayer foretells an outlandish future for theatre – full of acting, singing, and dancing all at the same time – Nick and Nigel set out to write this strange new creation called A MUSICAL! But amidst the scandalous excitement of Opening Night, the Bottom Brothers discover that reaching the top means being true to thine own self… and all that jazz.”
I mean honestly, a slapstick musical set in the 1590s doesn’t really feel like my kind of thing but I trusted with Jason Manford, Richard Fleeshman and Marisha Wallace at the helm, it was going to be worth a watch. Ben doesn’t like musicals as a rule (well except The Book of Mormon but that’s in a league of it’s own!) but he was happy to come along on the basis that he’s seen Jason Manford in panto at The Opera House a few times and trusted it would probably be a laugh . . . he wasn’t wrong.
Something Rotten! is a fast-paced musical comedy set in the 1590s. It follows brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom, two struggling playwrights who are desperate to outshine the wildly popular William Shakespeare.
In an act of desperation, Nick (played by Jason Manford) visits a soothsayer who predicts that the future of theatre involves people suddenly bursting into song and dance (leading to one of my favourite scenes as the pair of them launch into “A Musical” which is basically a whole song and dance explaining what a musical is but laden with cheek and humour!) Nick, who is desperate to find the next big idea decides to write the world’s very first musical. The result is a hilarious series of misunderstandings, over-the-top performances, and plenty of historical references, and jokes about theatre, literature, and Shakespeare.
What I would say is that whilst Ben, Dave and I were laughing out loud, much of the more literary humour or references to specific musicals went right over Amy’s head – that’s not to say she didn’t enjoy the show for the super campy musical theatre spectacular that it was but she wasn’t necessarily getting the musical references and definitely wasn’t onboard with the Shakespeare jokes which Ben was more au fait with thanks to four more years of secondary school English!
Will Shakespeare (expertly played by Richard Fleeshman) is portrayed as something of a rock and roll, cocky villain in leathers who has everyone swooning over him (well everyone except Nick who is insanely jealous of his success and doesn’t trust him as far as he can throw him). Ben said he couldn’t really decide if he was meant to like or hate the character of Shakespeare but personally I think it was a love to hate situation and I found him hilarious.
Because we are so familiar with watching Jason Manford in panto, Dave said he kept expecting him to break the fourth wall but it was nice to see him do something different and actually at times, his panto performance can feel a bit like the Jason Manford show but with Something Rotten! the focus was more evenly spread across a number of lead performers – with some incredible voices!
The show is packed with catchy songs, slapstick comedy, and references to famous musicals, making it especially enjoyable for audiences who know a little about musical theatre. Despite all the chaos, the story has warm themes about believing in yourself, following your dreams, and remembering that success isn’t just about fame.
On the way home we chatted about our favourite parts – about the jokes and characters we had loved and any highlights. Dave actually struggled to think of a highlight as he said there was simply nothing bad to say about it. Ben listed cheeky puns and innuendo from the Puritans, and a scene between Nigel (the less confident of the two brothers) and his love interested Portia reading poetry to one another – Ben had already joked to me about their dirty talk being in rhyming couplets so he found that particularly funny! Amy said it wasn’t what she had expected but that she had enjoyed it.
For me, I absolutely loved the “A Musical” scene which introduced the idea of what a musical is and gently ribbed the whole genre, and then the performance of “Omelette” – the first ever musical – just had me in stitches with sequined hard boiled eggs shimmying across the stage . . . you really didn’t know what to expect next! As Ben said, “It’s mad that the whole play is taking the mick out of someone writing a musical about eggs but someone did actually have to write it to perform it within the play”.
I would basically summarise the show as “Absolutely bonkers but a right laugh”! Definitely go see it if you can.
The official age guidance for Something Rotten! is age 10+ thanks to a “lively sense of humour and some bawdy language” but I would say that really, I’d be looking at a little older – not because of inappropriate content but just because without a grounding in musical theatre and Shakespeare, a lot of it will go over their heads. The show is not tailored for young children and parent discretion is advised.
Something Rotten runs until Sunday 19th July 2026 with tickets available here. The show contains strobe, flashing lights and haze.
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