Gwyneth Goes Skiing – ‘A Queer Comedy With Unabashed Commitment To A Silly Two-Act Bit’

9 months ago

A different kind of courtroom drama

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Gwyneth Goes Skiing – 'A Queer Comedy With Unabashed Commitment To A Silly Two-Act Bit'

The infamous trial of 2023 gets dramatised – as if it weren’t already enough of a drama – by the brains behind Diana: The Untold And Untrue Story. Tessa Dunthorne previews Gwyneth Goes Skiing, as the musical heads to the Pleasance Theatre.

Gwyneth Goes Skiiing: The Pop-Culture Moment And Trial Becomes Stage Material

‘It’s crazy that someone has already made a play about the Gwyneth Paltrow skiing trial,’ says literally everybody I tell about Gwyneth Goes Skiing.

‘It’s a musical,’ I say, keen to correct the narrative, ‘and it’s actually on its second run.’

‘Oh,’ they respond, and that is usually the end of the conversation. My enthusiasm for the new(ish) parody by Awkward Productions is not often readily met by everyone. Most people, it seems, are not sure what to think.

The show – a different take on the courtroom drama – stages the celebrity trial that occupied so much popular imagination in 2023. The one in which A Lister Paltrow was taken to court over a ski accident by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, and she gave us all sorts of iconic fashion moments and cool one liners (‘I wish you well’). And now, in turn, this riotous musical.

Before you fuss – you’re not in for a grandparent friendly Witness For The Prosecution. No chance of that at the hands of larger than life satirists Linus Karp and Joseph Martin. This is the same creative duo that brought Diana: The Untold & Untrue Story to London last year. This is all energy, all the time.

Gwyneth Goes Skiing is chocka with parody moments that reference popular TV and then even more piss-taking of Paltrow’s wellness brand Goop. It doesn’t just platform one side of the narrative, either (which – to be honest – is what a lot of the media did at the time): it gives voice to Terry Sanderson (who is literally just ‘a man’). He is bitter, set in routine, but a victim in his own right in their narrative. The musical asks us to think about who we support at every stage. Every character is a heightened cartoon character, and it’s a joy to watch.

Even better are moments when the audience is brought on stage to fill in the tertiary cast, provided with a powerpoint slideshow of their lines. All of them slightly blindsided by a corker from Karp or Martin.

And then, on top of that, there’s that soundtrack from Drag Race’s resident songwriter, Leland. Both stars show off some very limby, surreal dance moves (they have an uncanny ability to play as though they’re the wrong size for their own bodies).

If you want a show that feels like a scrappy comedy functioning on a shoestring budget, and self-aware enough to make jokes about this, this is for you. It’s ridiculous to an extreme from start to end. The soundtrack that underlies the preset, for example, is basically any tune with words like ‘crash’ in the title, and they’ve dubbed the word ‘skiing’ several times over the lyrics. That’s to say: they’ve nailed all the low hanging fruit, which means the audience is primed enough that when they do hit some higher-hanging fruit, it’s done with total finesse.

However, if you’re less in tune with pop culture, many of the jokes will go over your head. It’s one for those who read Popbitch and love Deuxmoi. But it’s still joyful enough that those who are less in tune with the gossip du jour will take some laughs from it. There’s much joy to be had from Karp’s airy-dreamy embodiment of Oscar winning Paltrow, for example.

This won’t be for everyone – it’s a queer comedy with an unabashed commitment to a silly two-act bit – but for those who sit up at the idea of a parody comedy about Gwyneth Paltrow, rest assured that this is money well spent.