The Stage

Outward Bound

Published Friday 3 February 2012 at 10:51 by Nicholas Hamilton

Sutton Vane’s 1923 play Outward Bound throws together an awkward mix of social types on a ship, where the confined space quickly activates every sort of snobbery, with often hilarious results.

Tom Davey and Natalie Walter in Outward Bound at the Finborough Theatre, London Photo: Jack Ladenburg

The businessman clashes with the drunk, the socialite is appalled to meet a charwoman and the clergyman does his best to keep the peace. However, this comedy of manners takes on a sudden moral and mortal dimension when the passengers are forced to accept that they are travelling on a contemporary version of the River Styx.

The morality is explicit, but is made palatable by the humour of the stock characters and the outright kookiness of the story, particularly with the entrance of a smug God-like character who administers justice in his linen suit.

As Mrs Cliveden-Banks, Carmen Rodriguez gets some of the loudest laughs for her snobby put-downs. Derek Howard looks permanently on the point of exploding as the uptight businessman Mr Lingley. While Paul Westwood stoops over everyone as the over-earnest Reverend Duke.

Part of the Finborough’s ReDiscoveries 2012 season, Outward Bound is unlikely to replicate the success of its original run in 1923 when it transferred to the West End, but it deserves to be seen again in London after more than 50 years.