BREAK AWAY. To 26 March.

London

BREAK AWAY
by Dameon Garnett

Finborough Theatre To 26 March 2005
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 3.30pm
Runs 2hr 15min One interval

TICKETS: 0870 4000 838
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 March

Liverpool loudmouths in Torquay torment; a play with a ray of sun.Mersey-baiting MP Boris Johnson would find plenty of ammo in Dameon Garnett's thoughtful new comedy, brought to Earl's Court by Northern Edge theatre. Its characters decamp from hard-pressed Speke to Torquay when auntie Pauline wins a week in a caravan. This loud, foul-mouthed, chip-eating, low expectation single parent family is hard-edged and soft-centred as the Henley MP could expect to find. The only outsider is an elocution-trained bit of superficial pretentiousness the likes of Shirley Valentine would dismiss with a well-formed quip if she bumped into her passing through the Adelphi.

Pauline's still young enough to be on the pull, and a woman for whom a sentence not incorporating a fucking is a notable event. The other adult's Kevin. A gas-fitter whose wife's buzzed off, he's trying, however inexpertly, to keep his daughter Barbie-Jean on A-levels and Oscar Wilde, though when she opens the university prospectuses his not-for-the-likes-of-us defensiveness kicks in. Brother Jake lusts after glamorous Stella, whose slim-line elegance contrasts the other women's ample figures.

There's a sense of more to be discovered in the men; their quietude (despite Jake's verbal attack on his sister) suggests defeat in life. Of the women, Pauline will survive whatever without appreciably changing, while Stella will trip delightfully through life, glancing off reality with a pretty smile and superficial comment as she riffles through pages of the latest glossy mag until she ages into mounds of cosmetics and ever more desperate attempts to keep up youthful mannerisms.

Barbie-Jean's different (that name won't last). Her brother's tongue-lashing unlocks her resources. From the parroted lit. crit. of early scenes she progresses to a sympathetic plot summary of Lady Windermere's Fan that connects the play, incredibly but convincingly, with her own family's experiences. Claire Sundin moves from hair-styling, vowel-falsifying girl under her posh friend's influence to a fully-realised individual with purpose, seemingly shedding pounds in the process.

There are good performances all round. For all its comedy (including a sex-in-the-toilet high spot) Garnett's script can seem to tread dramatic water; its realistic action needs more space for character dynamics than the Finborough provides. Worth seeing, nonetheless.

Barbie-Jean: Claire Sundin
Jake: Gareth Llewelyn
Kevin: Colin R Campbell
Stella: Emily Norman
Pauline: Tina Malone

Director: Claire Lovett
Designer: Paul Wills
Lighting: Gavin Owen
Sound: Emma Laxton
Costume: Jackie Orton

2005-03-21 11:23:15