LITTLE MALCOLM AND HIS STRUGGLE AGAINST THE EUNUCHS. To 21 February.

Bolton

LITTLE MALCOLM AND HIS STRUGGLE AGAINST THE EUNUCHS
by David Halliwell

Octagon Theatre To 21 February 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 7,14,18 February 2pm
Runs 3hr 5min One interval

TICKETS: 01204 520661
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 January

I can't believe I once found it funny. Not that funny, anyway.Back in the radical old sixties, when students worried over the state of the world rather than of their financial futures, I came across this play at Sheffield Playhouse and it seemed very funny, up to the last part - where the sole woman appears. I still can't work out whether the laughter then ended owing to the turn events took, or because illness meant someone was reading-in the part of Ann Gedge.

There are laughs, but Halliwell's play now seems far more serious, more Orwellian. Is it the times, or me being wiser, sadder - or just older? Anyway, Malcolm's explosion against the art college Principal who's expelled him, and his comically desperate plan of revenge, would be hilarious, if it didn't evoke actual political violence.

Some, at least, of Malcolm's cronies believe in him. His instant gang sorry, Party of Dynamic Erection - has no sooner grown to four than it splits internally, trying a perceived traitor on the grounds that if Malcolm can conceive of him being guilty he is. The prosecutor doubles as an indefensibly inactive defence; available pleas are Guilty or Very Guilty.

Climaxing the terror is the defendant's realisation handled with cold reality in Mark Babych's ruthlessly accurate production - that Malcolm would have him executed if circumstances allowed. Little Malcolm need only be more organised, instead of just shivering in Patrick Connellan's convincingly chilly attic flat, and in an unstable society, to become a big killer.

More than enough such have come along since extremists who can turn a country into hell, a generation into state-organised thugs. And when the one, sane voice of reason and disappointed affection brings in some humanity, it's only the dramatist's decision that keeps her from extinction.

Paul Simpson's Malcolm is a convincing poser, but lacks the charisma that can turn men into monsters. All around are fine, from Graeme Hawley's soulless apparatchik to Jeff Hordley's anorak with a reserve of common sense. Samantha Power introduces a healthy positive scepticism, a disappointed belief that shows the shy inadequacy which finds cover in impersonal political clothes.

Malcolm Scrawdyke: Paul Simpson
Irwin Ingham: William Ash
John Wick' Blagden: Graeme Hawley
Dennis Charles Nipple: Jeff Hordley
Ann Gedge: Samantha Power

Director: Mark Babych
Designer: Patrick Connellan
Lighting: Thomas Weir
Sound: Andy Smith

2004-02-11 02:33:34