Da Vinci's Laundry by Keelan Kember. Studio 2, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6 until 25 October 2025, 3☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Teddy Cavendish.

Da Vinci's Laundry by Keelan Kember. Studio 2, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6 until 25 October 2025,

3☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Deserves to be a hit but misses.”

Performed with style on an elegant set by a good cast this comedy by Keelan Kember about the world of the super-rich dealing in art for reasons that have nothing to do with how good a painting or whatever the object happens to be but how much one can sell it for ought to have been very funny indeed. In fact, time after time, it fell oddly flat. It was not a waste of an evening but an evening that promised to deliver and failed and why is hard to say – director Merle Wheldon has kept it all moving and elicited stylish performances from Kember, who plays Christopher, one of the dealers Arsema Thomas as his female sidekick Milly. They have a Da Vinci which belongs to an Oligarch living in London who is wanting it sold but is it genuine? Or is it a fake? An Arab prince is interested and a Maga American thug, who represents him, has turned up to move things along. The resulting comedy should sparkle but, while it never actually sent one to sleep, it was the flattest of flat pancakes. One could admire the ingredients but not the result. Maybe it was the fact that the house was small – I saw it the day after press night - but try as they might, and the cast tried hard, no bubbles burst. The play was all about money laundering, which is what the mega rich do – the joy of possession is not the name of the game, it is the passing of vast sums of money round the place. John Albasiny does a nifty turn as Boris, the oligarch who wants to be part of British society, Steve Zissus does a nice line in menace as the Maga man employed by the Prince played by Fayez Bakhsh with all the arrogance of someone who makes the filthy rich seem anything but filthy being even filthier. Maybe it will all pick up as the run continues. The material is there for Kember to satirise and some of what we are told is true - an allegedly “lost” Leonardo was sold for 450million dollars some years ago, an exhibition packed with fake Modigliano paintings was held, and one billionaire did put his elbow through a Picasso he owned. Maybe things will pick up – Kember's last play, Thanks for Having Me, enjoyed a sellout run at the Riverside earlier this year- and this one will turn out to be a hit but the night I saw it, sad to say, it was a miss.

Cast

Keelan Kember – Christopher

Arsema Thomas – Milly

Fyez Bakhsh – Prince

John Albasiny – Boris

Steve Zissis – Tony

Creatives

Director – Merle Wheldon

Set Designer – Eleanor Wintour

Lighting Designer – Jack Hathaway

Sound Designer – Ed Lewis