Here’s the true test of the National Theatre’s big 2011 breakout hit: does it have a life without its original cast, most of whom are heading off in April for the Broadway transfer? There is no real reason why Nicholas Hytner’s lovingly detailed production of Richard Bean’s farce should be any less funny, provided the new cast -headed by James Corden’s understudy Owain Arthur – have got the comic timing. The bigger question is how important household name Corden was to the play’s success. Still, whatever it’s fate, it surely remains the funniest ticket in the West End.
