by Sarah Cope

Plays which have transferred from the Edinburgh festival to a London venue often flounder when they come to the capital. Perhaps it’s because festival goers have lower standards, and an easy-to-watch, moderately funny play will receive accolades when playing alongside a lot of very amateur plays. My Romantic History falls firmly into this category of plays that once out of Edinburgh, seem decidedly lacklustre.

The play is based on the rather shaky premise that “if you haven’t met someone by the time you graduate you’re going to marry some cunt from your work”, in the words of the character of Thomas. (Interestingly, this quotation is used on the Bush Theatre’s website, though the word “cunt” is replaced with “idiot”).

Thomas sleeps with colleague Amy, after a Friday after-work drinks sessions. Thus commences an extremely gender-stereotyped “romance”, where Thomas tries to wriggle out of the “relationship” and Amy clings on like a limpet. Thomas’ inner thoughts are known the audience because he narrates them to us; Amy’s motivations are a mystery, albeit a not very interesting one.

In the second part, Amy gets to narrate, and for a moment I thought the play was about to find its feet. No such luck. We find out about the characters’ past relationships, but the facts just aren’t all that absorbing, nor are the characters remotely likeable.

There are some semi-good jokes and some memorable lines, but a bit more than a drop of wit was needed to breathe life into these predictable characters. Office paraphernalia such as a projector and a whiteboard were used to help tell the story, which was not exactly the most ground-breaking or imaginative of devices.

The audience members on either side of me fell asleep, which I think says all you need to know about this rather disappointing play.

Bush Theatre: booking until November 20

by Sarah Cope

Tennessee Williams spent more than ten years working and re-working The Two-Character Play, and he described it as his “most beautiful play since ‘Streetcar’”. Despite this, however, it is one of his less well-known plays and has rarely been performed.

The two characters in question are Clare (Catherine Cusack) and Felice (Paul McEwan), sibling actors who have been abandoned by their company and are staging a play for an audience who may or may not be there. Trapped in a theatre with an incomplete set, they embark on performing a play which is either based on or has strong similarities to their own traumatic lives. Acting seems to provide both an escape from reality but also a chance to confront emotionally difficult issues.

Clare first appears on stage bedecked in a tiara, which of course brings to mind Williams’ most memorable heroine, Blanche du Bois, brought to life so unforgettably by Vivien Leigh in the 1951 film of A Streetcar Named Desire. Clare is in many ways an archetypal Williams heroine: neurotic but witty, needy but resilient.

The power-struggle between the siblings at first manifests itself in their struggle over the content of the play they will perform. Whilst Felice ordinarily has control over this, Clare insists that “it’s going to be total collaboration on this occasion”.

All the classic Tennessee Williams themes are here: troubled families, loss, pain, fear, mental illness, and a traumatic past event that the characters skirt around but never quite address.

It doesn’t sound like the lightest of evenings, and perhaps it isn’t, but the unexpected wit, the superb performances (that of Catherine Cusack is particularly of note) and the rare chance to see a forgotten Williams play mean it is to be recommended.

The Two-Character Play is at the Jermyn Street Theatre until 20th November.

by Sarah Cope

A tap-dancing rector with a tooth fetish and an obsession with prostitutes is perhaps an odd choice of subject matter for a sing-a-long play, but that’ s what the award-winning company Penny Dreadful are currently touring with. The play’ s title alone is enough to make one groan, and the production itself is full of jokes and puns which provoke a similar reaction.

The play is based on the true story of the Rector of Stiffkey, a man who trawled the streets of Soho for prostitutes who he could ‘ help’ . The assistance offered to them by ‘ the prostitutes’ padre’ , however, did not come without certain conditions. This resulted in him being accused of rape and ex-communicated, ending his life working in a freak show, and eventually being mauled to death by a lion. “ We’ ve added nothing,” we were told “apart from the three-part harmonies.”

In the grand tradition of Victorian vaudeville, the play sent up the upper class, though no one escaped ridicule – the depiction of a mean-spirited landlady was particularly funny, taking many a cue, I thought, from Julie Walters’ ‘ Mrs Overall’ in Victoria Woods’ Acorn Antiques. It also dealt with issues such as rape and syphilis with
many a one-liner and intentionally inappropriate ditty.

The play was full of physical comedy, which, much of the time, worked better than the verbal gags. The five-part cast (some of whom took on several roles) were incredibly lithe and acrobatic. Indeed, the bodies of the women cast members were more like those of dancers than actors, which is little surprise given that this is such a
physical, energetic show, lasting just short of two hours with no interval.

“The English are sick,” commented by Canadian companion when the play ended, songs about limbs falling off and blow jobs not being quite her thing. The point, though, of vaudeville is not only to amuse, but also to shock. It’ s a genre that disappeared for some time, but there’ s no doubt, with companies such as Penny Dreadful, it is alive again. Not always comfortable viewing, but that is kind of the point.

Seen at Jackson’ s Lane Theatre, Highgate – touring in Norwich, Chelmsford, Trowbridge: details.