MAD FUNNY JUST. To 9 February.

London.

MAD FUNNY JUST
by Creased.

Theatre 503 Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road SW11 3BW To 9 February 2008.
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 5pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.

Tickets: 020 7978 7040.
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 26 January.

Witty and wily and expertly done.
Mad Funny Just gives all the signs of being ‘group-devised’, but Creased is a wily group, and for once the term doesn’t live down to its usual expectations. It’s as witty, bouncy, alert a piece as any about a death might be.

There again, it’s not about a death. We find out only random surface points about the deceased Louise. She was probably 21, a student who aspired to work in art-therapy, though her favourite teacher thought it was hairdressing. A student, she told misogynistic jokes. And she had a brother.

An ordinary post-teenager, then. Which is the point as the five actors perform a variety of characters more or less tangentially linked to Louise, for whom life continues in its creases and folds. They might be affected by the death, or might be affected when they think about it, or might persuade themselves they are affected. The uneasiness over any eulogy for her funeral suggests the uncertainty, and never more so than when the moment arrives. Life, meanwhile, and their own preoccupations, carry on.

The point is, Louise’s death catches them unawares. And the fast-shifting scenes convey uncertainty to us: who will we see next, where and when are we seeing them, why are we jumping to these people now? It may simply result from turning separately devised scenes into joined-up action. But it creates the sense of people surprised in their own lives.

Each character fits snugly with its performer’s persona, without ever – the trick with such work – seeming limited by it. It seems natural one of the women should play Scottish people, or that the other has a devastating way of being funny through her characters’ serious manner.

All five are strong, from the introduction where the usual turn-off-your-‘phones announcement also introduces the stage as a rehearsal space. It looks like one with its plain wood and free-standing door, useful for any entry, and for continuing a scene as a character leaves and starts responding to what lies beyond. Apt enough for a play about death. Even one about those who are still living, and hardly bereaved.

Will: Christopher Brandon.
Oliver: Lachlan Chapman.
Kieran: Mark Field.
Beryl: Becci Gemmell.
Hannah: Alison O’Donnell.

Director: Sarah Tipple.
Designer: Tom Scutt.
Lighting: Robin Fisher.
Sound: Toby Knowles, Edward Lewis.
Dramaturgs: Al Smith, Matt Hartley.

2008-01-28 12:22:11