02 June 2009

the rape of europe by Gregory Motton

Gengis - Kevin McMonagle
Uncle - Simon Paisley Day
Aunty - Penny Dimond
Lolo - Monic Dolan
Charlie/Dracula - Pearce Quigley

Join Gengis Khan on the eve of the 2009 European elections as he goes on his first trip to Brussels, the beating heart of Euroland. But democracy in the Euro-zone isn't quite what Gengis had in mind and his intensive education in EU governance transforms him into a very British freedom fighter.
Gregory Motton's hilarious and scabrous creation whisks us through the strange, devastating reality of Europe today. His previous plays for the Royal Court include Ambulance, Downfall, The Terrible Voice of Satan and The World's Biggest Diamond.

Director Ramin Gray
A random, rehearsed reading on a sunny afternoon at the Royal Court and no money exchanged hands.

With the very best comedic efforts to make this highly political message easier to digest, it still ran a bit too long and lacked consistency. The cast were wonderful in the most part though I felt Penny Dimond was out out of her depth with her strange look and wild eyes which were a little distracting. Ramin Gray called the scenes and acted as prop man & effects manager. He had an hilarious interchange with Pearce Quigley. Both Pearce and Kevin gave beautiful performances. There was a wonderful sequence where Pearce & Monica spoke their lines together that worked really well. There's something good here but it needs a little more work to engage a bigger audience for that amount of time. Wonderful use of the 'Grasses' sofa.
There were some young children in the audience and I can only presume they came to watch Mummy or Daddy. They were well behaved but must have been bored senseless. Later on in the bar, the place was swarming with young humans.

Bottom line is that everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and that goes a long way to making it fun for me.