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Hangover Square

Published Monday 14 July 2008 at 13:15 by Evelyn Curlet

Brilliantly bleak and wonderfully nightmarish, Hangover Square is set amidst the squalor of Earl’s Court drinking dens in 1939 and follows the plight of alcoholic loner George Harvey Bone as he struggles to survive spurned love.

Matthew Flynn as George Harvey Bone is as compelling as the addiction that consumes him. Twitching from perspiring anxiety and desperation to delusion and dumb calm, Bone is both familiar and terrifying. Flynn delivers a magnificent performance of this haunted soul.

Caroline Faber makes a husky, contained Netta, with a seductively world-weary air and bewitching presence. Clare Calbraith has a live-wire, compulsive energy as the second Netta. Both actresses play alongside and against Flynn’s Bone, tormenting and consoling him by turn.

Author Patrick Hamilton was familiar with Earl’s Court and suffered his own battle with the bottle, which adds an unnerving intimacy to the tale. Fidelis Morgan’s adaptation is vivid and poetic, though one feels that in less capable hands, it could have been fairly dense and heavy-going.

Thankfully Alex Marker’s gorgeously dilapidated period set and Gemma Fairlie’s imaginative, sure-handed direction sees the play brought vibrantly to life, from the local boozers and run-down hotels to boisterous double acts and inner demons.

The cast cannot be faulted, peopling this dark world with quirky, particular characters. One warning, however - wear as few items as possible to avoid melting in the heat.

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