CHIMPS. To 18 June.
Liverpool
CHIMPS
by Simon Block
Liverpool Playhouse To 18 June 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 18 June 2pm
Audio-described 15 June
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
TICKETS: 0151 709 4776
www.everymanplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 11 June
Death by salesmen has a deserved revival.No sooner has Amelia Bullmore's Mammals at London's Bush Theatre compared human behaviour patterns with their animal neighbours than Liverpool Theatres revive Simon Block's 1997 Hampstead play. In their home, quarrelling about money are young co-habitees Mark and Stevie, he dreaming of the illustrated children's book that's coming slowly along, she earning just enough to pay their North London mortgage.
Then two salesmen enter their menagerie, offering expensive instalment plan protection for the allegedly crumbling house walls. Block plots the techniques this pair uses, assuming authority, dividing Mark from Stevie, holding back on details. Not, even, making their true working relationship apparent. They have the expertise and coldness of scientists working on animal behaviour.
As in any mammal society there are alphas and betas. Stevie and Gabriel emerge as the leaders on each side, the ones who never flinch. Even as Stevie admits defeat before Gabriel's assault her status is confirmed, combining determination, survival and humanity.
Claire Lams shows Stevie's determined toughness, both mental and physical (Gabriel appreciates the self-defence course she misses because of their visit is paying off). Her anger against Mark comes only after increasingly urgent appeals to him, as he's swayed to the sellers' side, adopting their arguments and terminology.
Dick Bird's set includes the upper storey of the house under renovation, meaning Stevie has to remain visible during a long scene of inactivity, something not helpful it's hard to see this forceful character on the sidelines for so long. Wilson Milam's production stresses the stretched finances some room divisions are plastic sheeting. Its key weakness is playing Mark as so obviously an impractical dreamer. It's hard to see how Lams' Stevie sticks with him, though she does a good job with her fondly regretful sighs over his weaknesses.
But a production needs to be cast and played to stick up for this character, or the debate leans one-sidedly. That said, Lawrence Attwell has the breezy over-explicitness of the neophyte while Chuck Iwuji blazes with the concentration of cold, practiced certainty This may not be quite the ideal Chimps' home but it's more than worth a visit.
Lawrence: Michael Attwell
Mark: Domhall Gleeson
Gabriel: Chuk Iwuji
Stevie: Claire Lams
Director: Wilson Milam
Designer: Dick Bird
Lighting: Neil Austin
Sound: Gareth Fry
2005-06-12 23:09:19