Having the builders in for seventeen long weeks, instead of the planned three, would seem a safe enough bet for a comic situation. Much cathartic laughter from everyone who has suffered but a fairly predictible narrative with stock characters.
Murray Gold’s new play avoids most pitfalls with a determinedly fresh approach. Its characters have substance and there are surprises in the story. The situation is not a clear us against them. Gold’s lines are sharp and clever and driven by character and events.
Flat owner Katherine’s hesitant tirade against her builders is devastatingly funny. The way she puts down one builder for calling her ‘love’ and ‘darling’ will have every woman cheering and hoping to remember some of what she says.
Sophie Ward’s playing of Katherine is well judged and key to the play’s impact. The builders’ leader, a worried and potentially tragic figure, is given balance and depth by Patrick Brennan.
Then there is Christopher Eccleston playing Jakey, a leering and overbearing presence. He should do more comedy. He tells a long, rambling tale of a friend urinating on a live rail line and getting a shock. The manner of the telling will set studious observers thinking.
Someone, somewhere should be making plans for a revival of Comedians, the Trevor Griffiths play, with Eccleston in mind. He must play the menacing student- comedian Gethin Price. He owes it to his talent.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
Content is copyright © 2012 The Stage Media Company Limited unless otherwise stated.
All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)
