Fackham Hall Review – A Brisk, Funny Parody of Downton Abbey Which Is Pleasantly Ephemeral.

Maybe the notion of uncertain days in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the spoof is staging a comeback. The recent season observed the re-emergence of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, lampoons the grandiosity of overly serious genre with a torrent of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.

Playful times, apparently, give rise to knowingly unserious, laugh-filled, pleasantly insubstantial amusement.

The Newest Offering in This Silly Resurgence

The most recent of these absurd spoofs arrives as Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes fun at the easily mockable pretensions of gilded English costume epics. The screenplay comes from stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature finds ample of material to draw from and uses all of it.

Starting with a ludicrous start all the way to its ludicrous finish, this amusing upper-class adventure crams each of its runtime with gags and sketches that vary from the childish up to the truly humorous.

A Send-Up of Aristocrats and Servants

Much like Downton, Fackham Hall offers a pastiche of overly dignified the nobility and excessively servile help. The story centers on the hapless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their children in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations fall upon finding matches for their offspring.

The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of an engagement to the suitable kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However once she pulls out, the burden falls upon the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a "dried-up husk at 23 and and possesses unladylike ideas concerning female autonomy.

Where the Comedy Succeeds

The parody is significantly more successful when satirizing the stifling norms imposed on Edwardian-era ladies – an area frequently explored for self-serious drama. The trope of proper, coveted ladylike behavior provides the best punching bags.

The narrative thread, as befitting a purposefully absurd parody, takes a back seat to the jokes. Carr delivers them coming at an amiably humorous clip. There is a killing, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair involving the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.

A Note on Lighthearted Fun

It's all in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself has limitations. The heightened foolishness of a spoof can wear after a while, and the comic fuel on this particular variety diminishes somewhere between a skit and feature.

After a while, audiences could long to return to the world of (at least a modicum of) coherence. But, you have to admire a genuine dedication to the artform. In an age where we might to amuse ourselves unto oblivion, let's at least laugh at it.