MOJO. To 26 October.

Lancaster

MOJO
by Jez Butterworth

Dukes Playhouse To 26 October 2002
Mion-Sat 8pm
Runs 2hr 25min One interval

TICKETS 01524 598500
Review Timothy Ramsden 5 October

Butterworth's brilliance of plot and dialogue comes up bright in this rare revival.There could hardly be a bigger initial contrast than between the settings of Jez Butterworth's two Royal Court plays: the East Anglian barn conversion of The Night Heron and the 1950's Soho clubland of this, his first script - which receives a rare, rampaging revival at the Dukes.

In both, something sinister enters: but whereas it sneaks in with Heron, in this play the gangland streams in around the hot new rock property, Silver Johnny, who's kidnapped back and forth, onstage and off. Butterworth's achievement - apart from the cracking pace of his street-cred dialogue - is in the careful way he builds a story of lies, deceit and betrayal through his ever-moving action. And he drops in a few grotesqueries on the way (if the period and the Royal Court origin suggest 'kitchen-sink' plays, there's also reference to the contemporary 'dustbin drama' of Samuel Beckett - though with something even messier and deader than Hamm's parents in these bins).

And Butterworth has a knack of letting unspoken suspicions knock plot development forward in a way that always seems natural, unfolding character as events rocket along.

At first hearing, there's a Mamet-like explosiveness to the terse, rapid speech. Yet the effect differs - these characters compete to push things their way, but there's less of the American's use of fragmented language to search for a tough articulation of emotion and response.

If there's a limitation, it's that Ian Hastings' cast play the comic side for much of the action. Which is certainly there in plenty, but so is anger, the other side of instability. It's quite late on before this becomes clear how important this is.

But this is a very fine production, which makes transparent a mini-society built on force of personality and ability to think ahead while working out what the other man's planning in this all-male world. There are numerous moments which show how status is created: Howard Gossington's get-on-your-nerves squealing Skinny runs from the sword Paul Pariser's Baby wields, while James Puddephatt's tough-guy Mickey stands four-square under its threat.

It's an ace cast too. Pariser's Baby develops on a slow-fuse and there's a good contrast between the two eternal gang-followers. William Ely's phlegmatic worrier contrasts Justin Shevlin's Sweets (a reference to him as source of various colour pills). Shevlin's tall figure looms and lopes, eternally trying to calm through smiles, looking for gangland's version of a quiet life.

Add Terry Brown's atmospheric sham-glam designs and direction that cracks along for pretty much all its worth and you have a first-rate outing for a tough, Butterworth's abrasive, high-carbonated comic-horror story.

Potts: William Ely
Skinny: Howard Gossington
Silver Johnny: Andrew Moss
Baby: Paul Pariser
Mickey: James Puddephat
Sweets: Justin Shevlin

Director: Ian Hastings
Designer: Terry Brown
Lighting: Brent Lees
Sound: Julie Washington

2002-10-07 17:42:22