Chicken

Published Monday 14 April 2008 at 17:50 by Emma Barnett

Wendell, played by Jimmy Roussounis, is just a regular guy in New York struggling to make ends meet, whose only desire is to have a normal, happy family. However, his reality is starkly different.

Lumbered with a Budweiser-drinking, chain-smoking and heavily pregnant wife, Lina (Mitzi Thaddeus), he also has to contend with a down-and-out childhood friend Floyd (George Georgiou) sleeping on his sofa and eventually sleeping with his wife. Every action is driven by the desperate need to make money and the latest of Wendell’s schemes is to train a rooster for a cock fight.

The script is beautifully written and packed with sharp humour and acute observations about life. And on the whole, the actors deliver their lines with aplomb.

Georgiou is the real shining star of this show. When he feels pain, the audience feel every twang with him. The most harrowing scene is that between Floyd and his stroke-ridden father, Felix, played by Morgan Deare.

The whole play picks up on the circles of life and nurture ruling over nature. The way both Wendell and Floyd were abandoned during childhood and put in an orphanage, where they met, resonates with every line. If only they had been looked after better, they could have done have done a much finer job with themselves and their own families.

Roussounis has a much stronger second half and your empathy with him grows in time with the development of his character. Floyd’s wife, Rosalind, (Sinead Beary) although a fleeting appearance, adds context and a good flavour.

The quality of production needs some improving. The simple elements like well-executed lighting went a tad awry at times.

All in though, a wonderful glimpse of what an unstable upbringing and burning desire for money will do to good people.