GONG DONKEYS. To 11 December.

London

GONG DONKEYS
by Richard Cameron

Bush Theatre To 11 December 2004
Mon-Sat 8pm
Runs 1hr 50min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7610 4224
www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 17 November

Fine drama with exemplary production and performances.Well into this play Aunt Deelie and daughter Charlene talk on the sofa, the sole piece of sensible discussion in Richard Cameron's play. Elsewhere the men fantasise, wish-fulfil, dream. But only the women have a grip on reality; though Charlene directs' several fantasies in filmic style, she remains aware they are stories.

Wink and Gobbo, with their childlike minds, struggle ha;h-uncomprehending through Charlene's scenarios, just as her father - a redundant middle-aged engineer - prepares a talk for the local history society around Dickens' visit to Doncaster's St Leger race. Language shows them up and lets them down. The lads' Dickensian bio-dramas take on Doncaster street-language, while Robert becomes mired in Dickensian phraseology.

Almost an observer of this is Robert and Deelie's ultra-polite nephew David, staying during his mother's hospitalisation. The two local lads pick him out as posh but include him in their games (no-one else would join). They're Robert's Gong Donkeys', a term derived from Dickens' description of a drunk's voice sounding between a ring and a bray.

Cameron impressively mixes a firm sense of reality with fantastical behaviour, creating a play both pointed and often funny. Lisa Lillywhite's set is less precision-real than usual at the Bush, but gives a sense of post-industrial South Yorkshire in its slate-like heap, domestic comfort precariously present in an unevenly-floored sofa, and, mounted high, an armchair over which Wink spreads himself - a person not made for conventional sitting.

It's superbly acted, Anita Carey and Andrea Lowe having quiet authority in their good sense. The men, with their unrealities are excellent too, from Rory Jennings' placid David (his head in adventure books, his contribution to real life minimal) to Edward Peel's forceful yet ineffectual Robert, forever redrafting his Dickens talk. Peter Bramhill's withdrawn, bruised Gobbo is sometimes funny but never unsympathetic while Burn Gorman is outstanding, even in this company, as the fitfully pugnacious, clearly unhappy Wink.

Watching a rehearsal, hand in mouth, extending final syllables when he's impressed by what he's saying; catching the character in tone, rhythm and manner, it's a wonderful contribution to a fine evening.

Uncle Robert: Edward Peel
David: Rory Jennings
Aunt Deelie: Anita Carey
Charlene: Andrea Lowe
Wink: Burn Gorman
Gobbo: Peter Bramhill

Director: Mike Bradwell
Designer: Lisa Lillywhite
Lighting: Paul Russell
Sound: Scott George for Aura
Assistant director: Lucy Foster

2004-11-18 16:25:23