Shucked at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre hosts this new corn-based musical from across the pond, a non-stop laughfest with so many jokes it’s a miracle they managed to fit any songs in.
Shucked is the story of a small American town where they grow corn. But one day, the corn starts dying, and no one can figure out why. Maizy (Sophie McShera) heads into the big city to find help, leaving her fiancé, Beau, behind, and returns with a shady conman in tow who claims he can help revive the corn.
What follows is classic love triangle shenanigans and not-so-classic songs about corn. Plus roughly 40,000 jokes a second.
There are some pretty interesting themes mixed in with the humour and music. Themes such as isolation, a small town closed off and fearful of outsiders, and how perspective changes based on where you’re from, for example, what it means to be well-travelled and what constitutes “the big city”. But ultimately, Shucked is no deep exploration of thought-provoking topics, it is simply a whole lot of fun.
The humour is a barrage of clever, silly and cleverly silly wordplay jokes. One or two don’t land, some induce groans, but the others are very good. Think of the word play comedy of Airplane!, if Airplane! were about corn. It’s got to be, without a doubt, one of the funniest shows in London this year.
The music is nice, good even. Ben Joyce and Georgina Onuorah are both given songs that let them belt out some incredibly impressive notes that have the audience whooping. But the soundtrack is missing that little bit of magic that a musical needs to get people listening to the songs over and over and over.
But speaking of magic, the set is something special. A gorgeous leaning barn surrounded by corn that is in turn surrounded by the magnificence of Regent’s Park. There is probably no better stage for this show: being outside and secluded among the trees adds a beauty to the performance that would be difficult to recreate anywhere else.
Anyone looking for fun won’t be disappointed by Shucked. It’s wonderfully frivolous, a little cheesy in a good way, and for every joke that doesn’t land, there are many others that do.
Jim Compton-Hall
Photos: Pamela Raith
Shucked is at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre from 10th May until 14th June 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
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