RACHEL LYNES: Puppy Love

As an actress, writing a blog for a theatre website, I want to give you razzle-dazzle, Hollywood glamour, backstage dirt, debauchery and drama. But this week’s blog is written from a place of confinement. There’s only so much drama that can be achieved, housebound, inside a small basement flat. 

To paint the picture…

Around me, there is a strong smell of disinfectant. Not a great smell but preferable to the smell of wee. Before assumptions are made, I will stress to you, no, it’s not me. I may be mad but I’m not the one who’s incontinent. Not me.

A bit of history…

Throughout childhood, I had a dog phobia that was quite debilitating. Parks were a terror-zone: played in, with one eye to the horizon, watching and listening for a woof or a blur of teeth on it’s way over to eat me. Even now, I come out in a cold sweat if a dog takes me by surprise. So why, as I write, is there a pair of large brown eyes looking up at me with a tail wagging so hard her little bottom looks it’s going to take off? Why is a there little puddle on the floor behind the chair and, why is there, sitting at my feet, a small furry little chew machine also know as a puppy?

Reason 1) I made a resolution a while back- “If something scares you… DO IT “. It seems a good way to push yourself and keep life interesting.

Reason 2): Duster, the puppy

Last summer, I met Duster. I watched him scampering about and began to admire his outlook on life. Everything was worth a sniff, everything a potential friend. I wondered if (excluding all the sniffing of bottoms) more of those qualities should be applied to life… openness, exploration, instinct…

Reason 1 + reason 2 = Nula = life in disarray 

But minus the mess, being on puppy watch is a great. She’s great and I’m smitten. It’s also an excuse to re write the feature film I completed before my run at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. It’s a good incentive to sit and write without feeling obliged to get out and do something. Forced to get up at 6am, I’ve been managing to work for a good 12 hours a day. That wouldn’t have happened pre Nula.

And she’s helpful. She sits at my feet and encourages me. She’s also a great help when practising lines. In anticipation of next week’s Tempest audition, she’s being a fabulous Prospero and a wonderful Caliban. With the frequent Shakespeare speeches and Classic FM to keep her calm, I think she’ll understand French by the time she’s 6 months old (and certainly be the star of the class in puppy training)

*Note to stop the high expectations before the pup develops a guilt complex and I become a clichéd Jewish mother

Whilst multi tasking the pup, the writing and the acting, I was interested to read James Franco’s interview in the Guardian magazine. Franco, known as much for his university double life as for his acting (and recent Oscar nomination) is the subject of much speculation: is his academic pursuit a PR stunt, a clever way to make him more than a pretty face?

I think there’s little point in questioning why James Franco is doing all this. I’d rather just be impressed. After all, even if his incentive to go to back to school is PR, the action stands up for itself: He’s there, turning up, doing homework and putting in the hours. Lets just applaud the hard work

One of his comments, that the hard slog brings gratitude for the acting, makes sense. He also said that stops him being engulfed in Hollywood. It rings true that becoming consumed can be destructive, be it for a person or for an important audition.

Simon Beaufoy (writer of Slumdog Millionaire) said something similar in his Bafta lecture

“If you concentrate too much you’re going to fail.”

As a singer, I make the best sound when I’m fully relaxed. I was on my 4th recall for Mimi in the most recent West End version of Rent and the casting director told me to run around the room and roll on the floor. I looked like a loony but the sound flew out.

With acting, it’s the same. In an audition, if you try to be good, you’re often at your worst. If you’re not playing… if you’re not free, open and relaxed, then your head is in the wrong place. Before a show I use music, meditation, exercise or just being silly with friends to try and find this state.

There’s no way of switching off the wants, dreams and the hopes to do your best but filling life with other joys can make work seem a lot less “live or die”

The puppy agrees. She thinks that it is very silly to put so much pressure on being perfect and, really, we should just run around sniffing things and wiggling our bottoms.

Woman Bomb - Tristan Bates Theatre, London

Writer: Ivana Sajko
Translator: Vana Butkovic
Director: Maja Milatovic-Ovadia & Vanda Butkovic
Reviewer: Toni Stott-Rates
[Rating: 3.5] 

“Is this an act of heroism ending in my suicide, or is this a suicide hidden behind an act of heroism”?

Ivana Sajko’s play is an interesting and fun concept; two actors play different parts of a playwright’s consciousness that is trying to work through her creative process and find the character of a female suicide bomber. It is an interesting look at the thoughts and frustrations of the writer as she works through the information she gathers, the opinions of others and her own understandings; her love, like disgust, hatred, sympathy, pity, disdain for this character. It is a wonderful subject to look into as the reasons for becoming a suicide bomber are so intrinsically personal that in a way its completely up to the writer to decide how and why for her character because who knows why this or that woman went through with it.

The play recites many statistics to and for us, many facts and stories, examples and realities for who suicide bombers can be and why they might do this. Its an eye opener, the character of the bomber herself, because of the changing ideas of the writer, goes through many transitions doing it at first for hatred and disgust, for fear, for fanaticism, for any of the numerous ways women may be willing and then forced into doing it, atoning for their sins real or perceived, for money, for social acceptance, and finally and ultimately for suicide.

The directors’ choice to cast a young pretty blonde girl who is well groomed and healthy as the bomber really grated me, I thought ‘good grief why on earth someone like this’ surely its not that hard to get someone who looks closer to the part, but its humbling to realise that this was precisely the reason she was cast because as a westerner is so easy to think about suicide bombers as ethnically, racially, religiously different from us. It’s comforting that down deep without ever consciously acknowledging it we assume none of them look like us, that we are different, it’s not OUR problem. Being made to look at that is a bit shaming and wonderful for the show if they are able to get that reaction from their audience.

This is just one part of how this play challenges you to think about how you think, to examine your preconceived ideas about suicide bombers, and in this way the show is a success and well done. In other ways there were some issues, for example it often veered into melodrama, sometimes it quickly reversed that and even questioned the melodrama, but at times it was just too irking to watch and therefore pulls you out of the voyeurs dream and into a state where you are actively criticizing the play and not watching it.

The acting choices that both the actors and the directors kept did at times rankle me, Laura Harling’s portrayal of the bomber, for example, keeps going back to a kind of femme fatale noir’ish character or at other times someone unhinged and still at other times a sexualised unhinged person, which unfortunately gave the impression that it was the “writer’s” view of the bomber as some sort of sexy crazy person, which is clichéd in the worst and just not true to the psychology of women who choose to do this. Part of me wonders if this was intentional, the actor and director exploring how in theatre we often create easy recognisable characters before we give them depth, but the fact was that the change in the portrayal wasn’t enough, there wasn’t enough depth given later on for me to believe this was intentional, or if it was it wasn’t executed as well as it should have been.

This play has some beautiful and horrid images, quite apart from the screen projections which I often found seriously distracting from the play, the actors themselves created beautiful images that stay with you. The bomber’s naked back in the dim glowing light bathing from a small bowl in preparation, the bomber getting her hair repeatedly plaited for her by the writer, pages of the script from the writer that through an act of violence becomes a bomb being forcefully put into the bombers womb.

I say this is a play to take friends to; I certainly enjoyed debating it afterwards with mine. As a play calculated to make you think about who these women are and why they do it, and about creation and theatre making it succeeds very well. For me the acting let it down, but for my friend she thought the acting was great and the script let the actors down…all I can do is say how I feel, and while I hated it right after I have grown to appreciate it, it leaves strong images and thoughts in your head which is all any of us ask for from good theatre.

Runs untill: 14 May 2011

Interview: Richard McCabe (Yes Prime Minister)

Since taking on the role of Prime Minister, Richard McCabe has new respect and sympathy for the man at the top, he explains to The Public Reviews journalist Jemma Crowston.

The top West End comedy Yes, Prime Minister will grace the stage at Leicester’s Curve theatre at the end of the month with a six-night stop in the city.

Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, the original writers of the classic TV series, Yes Minister and the sequel Yes, Prime Minister have reunited for this anniversary production.

Heading the coalition government, Prime Minister Jim Hacker (McCabe) and cabinet secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Simon Williams) face a country in financial meltdown. The only salvation comes from a morally dubious deal with the Foreign Minister of Kumranistan.

McCabe said, “It’s a 21st century version of the much loved TV series. The characters are recognisable but they have modern twists.”

He added, “It’s a wonderfully funny script about the government and those that make the decisions. The show doesn’t talk down to the audience and can be very silly. The second half is basically a farce but it can be very clever at times too.”

The 50-year-old actor said the show is not portrayed in any one particular political party. He said, “What’s great about it is that Jim has qualities of a lot of the prime minister’s over the years and there’s no obvious political party involved.”

The show has completed six weeks of its 20 week tour.

McCabe, whose played in numerous stage and TV productions including BBC’s Wallander, said, “This version of the show has the addition of a woman which reflects the changes in government now compared to when it was originally written.“There are a lot of stories in the show which you’d think were written yesterday because they’re so current and reflect what’s in the news today.”

McCabe hinted at the current controversial story of Italian politician Berlusconi and said it bares some resemblance to a part in the play.

When asked if he had ever dreamed of being the Prime Minister, the Glasgow-born actor who grew up near Brighton, said, “It’s an impossible job. I have deep sympathy for them. You have to really watch what you say because anything you say could be taken out of context in this media age.”

The set used to play out this production represents the drawing room of the well-known country residence Chequers used by many politicians. The stage is filled with oak panelling, book cases and posh furniture.

He said, “Everyone would love this show because it’s a great comedy. The older ones will come with pre-conceptions from the TV series but they might find something quite different. It’d be great to see younger people there who will just see it for what it is. It’s a very intelligent play.”

McCabe, who last came to Leicester in the 1980s to perform at the late Haymarket Theatre, is excited to return to the city.

After the tour finishes in July, McCabe is hoping to head back to Sweden for a second series of Wallander.

To book tickets for Yes, Prime Minister, which will be at Curve from March 28 to April 3 visit www.curveonline.co.uk

Keepers - Contact Theatre, Manchester

Creators: The Plasticine Men
Reviewer: Ian Winterton
[Rating:4]

1801. A lighthouse standing sentry over the Smalls, a stretch of water 22-miles off the coast of Pembrokeshire is home to Thomas and Thomas, its keepers. Senior Thomas is dedicated and dour, while his companion is a day-dreamer; he’s as interested in aiding ailing seabirds as he is safeguarding sailors.

The promise of this claustrophobic scenario is realised by a strong, slightly surreal script, but what elevates it to the level of mini-masterpiece is its rendering as a piece of bravura physical theatre. With only two chairs, a ladder and a trapdoor, Newbury-based The Plasticine Men, manage to recreate the keepers’ environment through mime so fully that this reviewer isn’t sure he didn’t hallucinate waves crashing over railings at one point.

The two astounding performers are backed up by an incredibly rich soundscape – everything from the squeak as they polish the windows to a roaring gale – to which their every move is choreographed. Add to this an inventive staging – the scenes switch so often that this most theatrical of experiences seems at time almost cinematic; it’s like watching a film you can’t quite see, or a radio drama you sort of can…

The imagination well and truly unlocked during the first half of the play, one’s brain is primed for the story to lurch into the arena of madness, as one Thomas is drowned and the other, with no hope of being rescued, starts to lose his mind. Unsettling, funny and, ultimately, both moving and beautiful.

A hit at 2010’s Edinburgh Fringe and well-deserved winner of many awards, Keepers is a truly unique piece that will haunt your dreams for many months to come…

Touring UK until 9 April 2011. Details at:
http://www.theplasticinemen.co.uk/pages/keeperspages/tourdates.html

74 Georgia Avenue - New End Theatre, Hampstead

Writer: Murray Schisgal
Director: Paul Blinkhorn
Reviewer: Alexei Edwards
[rating:3]

After conducting a modicum of research on the writer, Murray Schisgal, of 73 Georgia Avenue, I learned that he had some rather impressive credentials. He was Oscar nominated as the co writer of Tootsie and an award winning playwright so I was surprised, and hugely excited, to be given the opportunity to see a UK premier of a play that was first penned way back in the 20th Century, in 1988.

The play was incredibly short, a mere 40 minutes, and told the story of a middle-aged Jewish man, Marty, returning to the house he grew up in which is now occupied by Joseph, a black man who has set aside his work commitments to look after his terminally ill wife. Within a matter of minutes, the gregarious Marty strides in and is immediately met with hostility by the bewildered Joseph who refers to him as a ‘honky.’ My immediate impression was that I was to witness a short play dealing with the cultural differences of the two players but that was soon dispelled as the play established Marty as a man desperately searching to put to rest the ghosts of his past and Joseph as a man trying to escape the inevitable onset of tragedy that had permeated his life due to his wife’s inescapable illness. They both became warped kindred spirits, feeding off each other’s melancholy and internal suffering whilst celebrating some of the characters of their shared past.

Both of the main actors offered insightful and at times, emotive performances that really plunged me into the world they so warmly discussed.

This play spoke to me about two men wanting to escape their immediate surroundings and celebrate and, at times, commiserate a life they once had.

The set perfectly illustrated the mild degradation that seemed to permeate Joseph and Marty’s lives but the main concern I had was not with the production itself but rather Schisgal’s script. On the undercurrent, there was a celebration of the Jewish community and culture these two men were a part of but there was also a nod towards the supernatural that I felt did not belong. From my perspective, it confused the play a little and exposed the frailties of the actor who played Joseph.

A shame as I felt it was a play that at times, threatened to be brilliant and truly memorable.

Runs until 19th March

No Loss, Joe Loss – The Lowry, Salford

Writer: Christine Marshall
Director: Colin Muir
Reviewer: Jo Beggs
[rating:1]

After 30 years married to the hapless Frank (Stephen Tomlin), Mona (Meriel Schofield) has reached the end of her patience, and of her sanity. Hospitalised and put through endless therapy sessions she manages to pull through and get the piece of paper that says she’s sane. But what she comes home to is enough to make her turn right round and head back to the relative peace and quiet of the psychiatric hospital. Frank’s mother, Lillian (Jacqueline Pilton) suffers a stroke, and because of the prospect of an MRSA riddled ward, comes ‘home’ to be cared for by Mona.

Labelled a comedy drama there’s few laughs unless you count the moments of silliness that Mona allows herself just to get through the day. Tending to the every need of the spiteful old woman, Mona’s mental health starts veering back downwards. Something has to give.

And what gives is the veneer of normal family life. Secrets and horrible truths start to seep out, all the bitterness that has been held in over the years. It starts with accounts of petty irritations and builds to reveal a lifetime of unspoken misery and terrible abuse.

No Loss, Joe Loss tackles some tough, emotional subjects head on. It should shock and move, but it’s such a clumsy, overlong piece of writing that it fails to affect at all. The characters are hateful and fail to ignite any sense of empathy, as they dramatically reveal their long held secrets, revelations fall flat. It really is hard to care.

Two members of the cast do put in credible performances considering they have almost nothing to work with. Meriel Schofield is best in monologue scenes early on, bringing a painful, muddling through sort of humour to a woman who’s really spiralling out of control. Jacqueline Pilton as Lillian is suitably acidic and matriarchal in Act One and frighteningly senile in Act Two. There’s a plausible bond between the two women underpinned by rivalry, guilt and Mona’s urge to nurture. It's a shame the hard work they’ve put into this production isn’t matched by either the writing or the performances from the rest of the cast.

Frank delivers profanity and Shakespeare in the same tired tone. He’s an ordinary man bent on bettering himself. But it’s unbelievable that Mona would have stuck marriage out this long with such an ignorant and unlikeable man, and, having got her groove back and finally bundled the old lady off to spend the rest of her days in a hospital, even more unlikely she’d stay. Stephen Tomlin’s lacklustre performance doesn’t help, his mumbling delivery and accent make some parts of the script hard to follow. Not that it’s worth the effort to translate.

Rachel Priest as their transsexual son David/Danni and Louise Nulty as Mona’s psychiatrist (and in a particularly irritating scene, a mock-judge) do nothing to expand their one-dimensional, and, in Nulty’s case, nauseating characters.

The whole thing is a waste of what could be a credible and moving domestic drama. Marshall had something promising and has completely lost control of it. No Loss, Joe Loss is a wearisome, seriously flawed production with little to redeem it.

Runs until the 12th March 2011

Up Out o’ The Sea (eastern Angles) – The Town Hall, Maldon

Writer: Andrew Holland
Director: Ivan Cutting
Reviewer: Michael Gray
[Rating:3.5]

Off the lonely Suffolk coast, eroded by the relentless waves, a wreck has lain for thirty years. Now it is to be brought to the surface, just as a prickly journalist from London turns up in the the tight-knit local community, with her laptop and her searching questions.

That's the starting point for Andrew Holland's Up Out o' the Sea, an atmospheric piece dealing with those Eastern Angles stock-in-trade themes of origins, ghosts and time-slips.

A simple, weathered set sits across the Town Hall in Maldon, replicating the John Mills Theatre back in Ipswich. “Fresh Fish For Sale – Special Offer Herring £1.50 lb” at one end, with a suggestion of the mooring and the remote Point. At the other, the village library.

The company of five bring some pretty complex characters to life, as their stories unfold and intertwine. Rough-edged chancer Tweedie, looking for love and a way out of the dead-end, was played by Francis Woolf, who caught precisely the mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His colleague, Dolphie, the only survivor of the volunteer crew that attempted the rescue on that fatal night, was Mike Aherne, who managed to make the grumpy old fishermen both believable and sympathetic.

Lisa-Marie Hoctor played two linked characters, both immature, both young mothers; sometimes hard to grasp all her words in this less than ideal acoustic, but I loved her Emily, the mysterious girl with a touch of the devil, who dreams of passing through into glory …

Laura Harding was brilliantly convincing as the writer with secrets of her own – the picnic at the Point was movingly done, as was the “information versus emotion” dialogue with Lisa-Marie's modern Milly.

And Lisa Tramontin played the Librarian, by no means a stock character, despite her stereotype hair and cardigan. Though not all of the dialogue she was given rang true, she did provide some of the most touching moments in a play of many layers and textures. Including the key revelation, a real goosebumps realisation.

Music was powerfully used – a Bach Passion mainly – and simple but effective lighting suggested the sunshine and the showers, the night and the storm. The setting was practical and versatile - I admired the imagination that turned a door with oilskins hanging from hooks into a stretcher for the victims of the storm.

In the end, after a rescue which echoes the earlier disaster, they decide to leave the wreck where it lies – a memorial draws a line under a past event whose details are gradually revealed in this intriguing piece, directed, with his usual sure touch for the intangible, by Eastern Angles' Artistic Director Ivan Cutting.

Tours until 4th June

Interview: George Banks (History Boys)

Playing a cocky and boisterous teenager is something new for the understated George Banks who will be heading to Curve next month to star in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys.

The Public Reviews reporter, Jemma Crowston, caught-up with the 23-year-old during the show’s tour in Bath.

Director, Christopher Luscombe has revived the show for the first time since its original National Theatre production.

The History Boys, which has picked up three Olivier Awards, six Tony Awards, the Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards, will tell it’s tale of a Yorkshire Grammar School at Leicester’s Curve theatre from March 21 to March 26.

Known as one of the great plays of the decade, The History Boys is set in a school in the North of England where a sprightly bunch of bright, funny, sixth-form boys are attempting to gain entrance to Oxford or Cambridge whilst evading the distractions of sport and sex.

“The headmaster brings in a new history teacher to give the boys an edge in their exams and what you see on stage is a very enjoyable show with complex relationships between the students and the teacher and the teacher and the headmaster”, said Banks.

Banks will play Dakin, the leader-of-the-pack. He said, “Dakin is very cocky and impressive. He’s quite charming and a big flirt.

“I was a bit of nerd in school so nothing like Dakin. I can be a bit of a flirt I guess but I’d love to be like Dakin and have all that confidence.”

Banks said his favourite scenes are the ones with Dakin and the new teacher Hector played by Philip Franks (Darling Buds of May, Absolutely Fabulous). Banks said, “They’ve got quite a unique relationship. I also love the scenes when all the boys are in the classroom. We’re all very cheeky and like to cause mischief so we’re on stage drawing pictures and showing each other for a laugh.

“We’re all around the same age so the tour has been great because we’ve been out socialising.”

The 12-strong cast including Banks have been touring since January and Leicester will be there penultimate stop.

When asked if he could would he re-live his school days again, Banks replied, “I’ve got fond memories from school but I know some of them are through rose-tinted glasses so I wouldn’t want to ruin the memories I have.”

The Watford born actor has starred in many theatre and some TV roles but has also lent his voice for documentaries and computer games including Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup.

Banks said the show would be suitable by anyone whose been in education. He said, “Everyone whose gone through education has fond memories and this show has a character that everyone can relate to.

“It’s a beautiful play and I defy any audience member who doesn’t come out asking whoever is nearest ‘who was your Hector?’ Who was the teacher that inspired you?”

Banks added, “My GCSE English teacher was the first teacher to respect me as an individual. I think I was about 14 or 15 and for the first time we were treated as adults – not vacuous children. He ignited my passion for text and was very much like Hector in that he opened up the possibilities of everything to us.

“It was great to be in his lessons. I can still feel his influence on how I approach a text and in the way I try to reach a deeper understanding of what it is saying.”

In 2005, a film was made with the entire original cast of The History Boys, many of whom, including James Corden and Dominic Cooper, who have subsequently became household names.

To book tickets visit www.curveonline.co.uk

Richard III - The Lowry, Salford

Writer:  William Shakespeare

Director: Edward Hall

Reviewer:  Helen Jones

[Rating: 3.5]

Propeller have returned to the Lowry, this time with one of Shakespeare's histories: Richard III, playing in tandem with The Comedy of Errors. 

Propeller is one of very few companies that use an all male cast for Shakespeare, and in this production it works very well.  As with all Propeller's productions this is not a classical take on the play.  The setting is medical, with Michael Pavelka's set using moveable screens, plastic curtaining and surgical implements to create both the sets and the scene changes.  It is also monochromatic, an aspect which is used to great effect in the battle between Richard and Richmond.

Richard Clothier is a tall, ungainly Richard, limping and missing a hand, he is monstrous only in his  actions rather than his physical appearance.  Clothier plays the role with a controlled skill, the menace of his intentions underlying every speech.  His methodical destruction of all those who lie between him and the crown is carried out with mercurial precision.

His brothers, George, Duke of Clarence (John Dougall) and King Edward IV (Robert Hands) are both neatly disposed of by his scheming and his ill health.  Both actors are convincing in their roles and then pick up on other roles later in the play.  The young princes are done as puppets, which are quite spooky in their movements, provided by Sam Swainsby and Richard Frame.  Dominic Tighe as Queen Elizabeth, Edward's wife, portrays the character as feminine without being effeminate - which works well, as do the other female roles in the hands of Jon Trenchard, Tony Bell and Kelsey Brookfield.

Director Edward Hall has a distinct style: he excels at creating strong imagery as well as strong physical performances from his actors.  The masked ensemble are an ever present menace with their weapons, and Hall uses percussion and song as both an emphasis and a backing.  However, as with a previous production I have seen, the graphic violence and stage blood is overused; the inference always having a stronger effect, I think, than the obvious.

Overall, though, Propeller manage to make a long winded history play more accessible without losing the wonderful language of Shakespeare; and for that they should be heartily commended.

Runs in rep until Sat 12th March

Puckoon – Leicester Square Theatre, London

Writer: Spike Milligan
Music: Paul Boyd
Director: Zoë Seaton
Reviewer: Raylene Robertson
[rating:3.5]

I turned up to review this play knowing nothing more about it than it is based on a novel, written by a famous author quite a few years ago, that is set in Ireland. I left the theatre dying to read this, to me, elusive novel!

Puckoon is based on the novel written by Spike Milligan, a great children’s poet and a ground breaker in British radio with ‘The Goon Show’. The play is set in Ireland, 1922 and is considered a comic masterpiece. It tells the story of the separation of Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland. The story is an absurd comedy punctured with poignant moments.

This production of Puckoon is definitely one for the family. There maybe one or two swear words, yet the visuals will definitely leave a more lasting effect. The kids, and grown-ups too, will love the visual and sound elements, the super quick costume and character changes merging with the ever quickening music are a quite a delight. I was surprised to see a number of young children in the audience, yet the more I thought about it the less I could argue against it.

I myself am of a somewhat younger generation. I had only vaguely heard the name Milligan and I had an unexpected, wholly wonderful evening. I had never been taught about our history with Ireland and I had just missed out on the ‘Carry on …’ era, yet I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening and am inclined to find out more about Spike Milligan!

The only thing that I can comment on is that on a couple of occasions the music was a little too loud, that those at the back could not quite hear the fast paced lines as well as those at the front.

However, the cast is great! They make the play feel like a collection of comedy sketches, they argue over who is to play the next ‘extra’, whilst not once loosing the plot and never do they become predictable. Most characters take on a numerous roles. Bryan Quinn’s transition from Mrs O’Toole to a male punter in her pub happens in the space of a second and is utterly hilarious!

Paul Boyd playing the role as the writer is a good move. He sits for most of the play, yet he gives the impression that his is a hard job, constantly being asked when will Dan Milligan’s legs become manlier? Organising who goes where and who is to do what, he delivers joke after joke and then hits you square in the eye with the truth. You are made to think. Yet not for too long … you are allowed to enjoy your night … but it gets under your skin!

Runs until 27 March 2011