The Stage

Trumpets and Raspberries

Published Wednesday 23 April 2008 at 15:35 by Thom Dibdin

Tony Cownie brings extra fire to the belly of McAvoy and Giugni’s translation of Dario Fo’s political farce by transferring it from eighties Italy to 2011 Scotland.

So Jimmy Chisholm plays Fiat boss and director of the CBI, Sir John Lamb - burned in a kidnap attempt on the edges of Edinburgh and saved by his employee, militant trade unionist Tony Brodie.

The ensuing mistaken identity allows for Chisholm to apply his comic talent to the double role of Brodie/Lamb, as per the original, while Cownie brings in to play all sorts of well-observed satire concerning the fallout from Blair-era international politicking. Unfortunately he does not take the updating far enough, so Brodie’s left-wing leanings incongruously remain in eighties Italy and are not re-imagined for 21st century Scotland.

The surrounding performances are all well judged and designed to bring out the comedy. Kathryn Howden makes a superbly voluptuous Rosa, Brodie’s deserted wife who immediately latches on to Lamb on Brodie’s clothing as her husband. Shonagh Price is excellent, but underused, as Lucy, Brodie’s current flame. Steven McNicoll is also underused but strong as a German facial reconstructive surgeon. Keith Fleming gets right into the police inspector with an unhealthy obsession for violent conduct.

Less well judged is the outrageous staging. A twirling bed and flying surgeons are not well enough choreographed in Act I to work well. Moving furniture in Act II works against the realism established for the slapstick comedy routine that lies at the heart of the act’s major scene. This is not so much down to Ken Harrison’s design, but Cownie’s over-enthusiastic use of it.