Captain Tock - Finbar Lynch
Foxtrot Darling - Neet Mohan
Cheetah Bee - Eileen Page
Sherbet Gravel - Jaime Winstone
Directed by Edward Dick
Designed by Mark Thompson
Seen at the Hampstead Theatre on a cheap Monday night. Celebs in the audience were Lee & Denise Van Outen (sitting uncomfortably near the stage) and a private celebrity who I shall forthwith refer to as 'Mr Axminster'.
It really helps if you go into this play by either knowing it, or knowing Mr Ridley's work and that was the only motivation I had for grabbing this seat at the last minute. He observes things through a wonky prism but presents them in a way that gives you the creeps when a sense of familiarity invades your brain.This particular production was an overall disappointment to me because the considerable talents and complete understanding of the piece displayed so intoxicatingly by Messers Newman and Lynch, were dragged down to pantomime-style, skin crawling cheapness by the younger, less experienced members of the cast. A terrible, terrible shame.
Alex Newman should get an award for best presentation of crisp white underwear and very little else in an off West End production. Finbar Lynch is so perfect and works so beautifully with Alex that I never really wanted the other cast to interfere, though I had no complaint with Eileen Page's small but worthy part.
Here's a bunch of review links:-
Independent.
Telegraph.
Guardian.
Times.
The Stage.
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