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Elling

Published Tuesday 1 May 2007 at 09:55 by Paul Vale

Two grown men, having spent the past two years sharing a room in a mental institution, are released into the outside world, in the hope they will be able to adapt and live normal lives. Kjell is an uncouth, gentle giant intent on losing his virginity and Elling is a precise mummy’s boy with a fear of the outside world. This adaptation of a cult Norwegian film works beautifully on stage and Simon Bent is to be congratulated for losing none of it’s charm or poignancy. Adrian Bower as the blustering Kjell is superb as he moves from the security of life in the asylum to his new home.

Bower’s brash delivery is spot on and much of the comedy comes from his ability to inject a boyish innocence into the character, counter-pointed wonderfully against John Simm’s Elling.

Simm, in a vast departure from his role as DI Sam Tyler in Life of Mars is prissy, delicate and hysterically funny as Elling. His subtle side glances and impeccable timing could almost steal the show, but he is far too generous an actor to allow this and alongside Bower, the two truly become the Odd Couple of Oslo. Perfect support is given by Keir Charles as their social worker Frank Asli and Ingrid Lacey as Kjell’s love interest Reidun, with both doubling as modern poets in one excruciatingly funny scene. Stalwart veteran Jonathan Cecil completes the cast as the mysterious old man who befriends Elling, leading him to life as an underground poet.

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