Review: It's a Wonderful Knife: A Christmas Dundee (Old Joint Stock Theatre)

Review by Raphael Kohn

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Some things go together like mince pies and mulled wine. Or trees and fairy lights. Perhaps, though, It’s A Wonderful Life and Crocodile Dundee wouldn’t quite be expected to fit into that category. One’s a classic and heartfelt Christmas film, the other is an iconic comedy that just so happens to be the BBC’s most-watched Christmas Day film of all time. You’d be forgiven for thinking the concept of mashing the two together doesn’t quite make sense. You wouldn’t be forgiven, however, for judging this book by its cover.

I can just imagine the conversations in the writers’ room when they were coming up with this, each idea more ludicrous and ridiculous than the last until the plot became a chaos-making competition. Most would raise their eyebrows to the ceiling at its plot: think an alternate reality where Crocodile Dundee gets made with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, resulting in a world war, and a tonne of Australian celebrities getting shoehorned in. Add in the It’s A Wonderful Life element, letting the real star of Dundee Paul Hogan reflect on his life, and you get something that’s… somewhat Christmassy. I think.

It's far from the classical charm of A Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker. But that’s the point; in this little fringe venue, traditional Christmas musicals are out this year, and a raucous new comedy musical takes its place. There’s no attempt for it to make sense, or follow convention, because that’s simply not the point. This is a ridiculous absurdist comedy (the plot is the brainchild of book-writer and lyricist James Edge), with something Christmas-themed thrown in, to do Christmas theatre a little differently.

It takes its absurdist credentials seriously. Every other moment has a random joke, with musical theatre in-jokes (think The Producers and Spamalot vibes), self-references, and innuendoes thrown in all over the place. Admittedly, not all of it lands – sometimes, it feels as if the jokes are a little too weird and don’t quite gel together cohesively, but other times, it’s a riot. Perhaps you’ll need a few pints (of Foster’s, naturally) throughout the show to really let loose and embrace the chaos, but that’s part of the fun anyway.

Like a car’s engine in this winter weather, it splutters before it runs smoothly. It’s fairly exposition-heavy to begin with, which is fully acknowledged by the show and turned into a joke of its own, before it manages to really hit its stride. Adam Gerber’s songs are silly – humourously so – but there are far more hits than misses in his score for the show. Once Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives, and the song ‘Get To The Chopper’ gets underway, the show finds its feet and its all the better for it.

Gerber mixes 80s pop vibes, jazz, and plenty of Broadway pizzazz into his score (unfortunately played by what sounds like a tinny pre-recording than a live band, but there’s a limit to what you can do in such a tiny space), with each song powered through by Edge’s brilliantly creative lyrics. They’re all staged very effectively on George P. Martin’s simple wooden set by director Lilly Butcher and choreographer William Spencer, leaning into the chaos of it all with deliberately low-budget props and excessively punchy dances.

It's performed well by the cast of five, led by Paul Westwood as Paul Hogan, complete with a remarkably solid Australian accent and plenty of Crocodile Dundee references. He’s very much the ‘straight man’ of the musical (and I certainly don’t mean that in regard to the character’s sexuality), consistently playing deadpan to the chaos around him. The musical theatre glamour, however, is brought by Oliver Cartwright as ‘Burt’ (the Crocodile from the film). Full of energy and wit, with a stellar tenor in tow, you’ll never have seen a croc quite as camp as this one.

A trio of ensemble members fill in the gaps: Thea Jo Wolfe, Tom Kiteley, and Will Usherwood-Bliss each bring their own unique charm while delivering amusing impressions of Kylie Minogue, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hugh Jackman. Each thankfully gets their own moment in the limelight, dragging the plot through various tangents for a shoehorned-in gag wherever possible.

Sure, it might need a bit of sharpening up with some plot tweaks here and there and the excision of some scenes, but I almost found the rough-around-the-edges nature of it to be part of the charm. It’s a silly fringe musical with a plot that sounds like it’s been dreamt up with the assistance of certain substances. It fits the bill well enough as an alternative to all the revivals of A Christmas Carol on every stage across the country. I suppose this one shares a few plot similarities here and there, but do other theatres have 80s music, gunfights, and a tap-dancing crocodile? I think not.

It’s A Wonderful Knife – A Christmas Dundee plays at the Old Joint Stock Theatre until 30th December 2025. Tickets from https://www.oldjointstock.co.uk/whats-on/christmas-dundee

Photos by Perro Loco Productions