by Robert Bain

If you’re looking for a group to make fun of, there aren’t many easier targets than trainspotters. Most of the work has already been done for you: we all know spotters are dull, obsessive, socially inept men who carry thermos flasks and, of course, sport the obligatory anorak.

Stephen Dinsdale’s one-man play Anorak of Fire wants to be a comedy about someone we all know. But the spotter, Gus Gascoigne, is familiar not because he exists in real life, but because he’s a caricature we’ve already seen mocked a thousand times. Just like we all poke fun at ‘chavs’ today, the ‘anorak’ stereotype emerged as everybody’s favourite punchbag in the 90s, appearing in sketch shows, adverts and snide conversations behind people’s backs. It wasn’t all that big or clever back then, but at least it was fresh.

Fourteen years on from the play’s debut, the joke is feeling very old. With Gus, played by Stephen Glover, Dinsdale has done little to flesh out this all-too-familiar character, so the play’s humour and story hold few surprises. Details that ought to bring it to life – like the obligatory anecdote about a failed sexual encounter – prove just as predictable.

Dinsdale’s script and Glover’s portrayal of Gus are both needlessly over-the-top – a shame, because there’s really no need to resort to silliness like this to derive humour from weirdos. The world is full of hilarious real-life geeks, obsessive oddballs and social outcasts, indeed we can all see aspects of these characters in ourselves. But Gascoigne bears little relation to any I’ve ever come across. Instead he’s like a cartoon Jarvis Cocker – all sneering and nasal with an exaggerated northern accent.

Glover is an engaging presence on stage, but, intentionally or otherwise, the character is irritating, and with a few exceptions the jokes are stale. I wonder if Dinsdale met any real spotters while writing his play – I think I could find more things to laugh at by venturing to the far end of platform 1 at 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning than he has come up with.

Anorak of Fire has a promising feeling of Alan Bennett-esque tragicomedy about it, but fails to deliver due to the one unexpected feature of Gus’s character – we can’t dismiss him as ‘sad’ because he seems to be fairly happy. Far from apologising for his hobby, Gus is a proud, passionate trainspotter, “a born spotter”, as he begins his monologue by proclaiming. He might not know much about girls and he might wear a dreadful anorak, but other than that he’s fine.

And, without meaning to sound callous, what’s funny about that?

The production can be seen on Sunday 16 September and Monday 17 September at 7.30pm; £15.00, £12.50 concessions. The play is also touring: The Carriageworks, Leeds Sept 13; Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough Sept 14-15; Civic Theatre, Doncaster Sept 19; Old Library, Mansfield Sept 22; Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham Sept 29; Guildhall Theatre, Derby Oct 4-5.