THE LIFE AND TIMES OF YOUNG BOB SCALLION. To 29 March.
Exeter
THE LIFE AND TIME OF YOUNG BOB SCALLION
by Mick Martin
Northcott Theatre To 29 March 2003
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 29 March 2.30pm
Audio-described: 27 March
BSL Signed: 26 March
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 01392 493493
Review Hazel Brown 20 March
20th Century life is given Fielding's Tom Jones treatmentMick Martin's play follows the life and misfortunes of a hapless and hopeless young man from the 1970's to the present day. This is a satirical, funny and ultimately sad commentary on our times, that owes much (as Martin reveals in the programme notes) to the novels of Dickens and Fielding.
Adrian Edmondson is the likeable and hapless rogue, Bob Scallion, leading us on a narrative journey through his life from release from jail in the seventies, penniless, at the age of seventeen, through dead-end jobs to living off the fat of the land as the right hand man of a porn king in the eighties, sex, love and betrayal in the nineties and the inevitable end, back in jail in the present day.
On the way, he experiences the rise of Maggie Thatcher, the life, marriage and death of Lady Diana, John Major and the treachery that is modern politics, en route paying homage to the ultimate pussy puller' that was the Ford Capri.
The play is peppered with wonderfully comic theatrical moments, as Bob Scallion rows his boss, the greasy wide-boy Tommy Marchbank, out to a Swedish ship to take delivery of a ton of porn, a scene at the races rivals that in My Fair Lady and there are sharp observations on the underbelly of 20th century life. Adrian Edmondson embodies the wide-eyed, innocent and trusting Bob Scallion completely, engaging our sympathies, despite the character's shortcomings.
Colin Tarrant is splendid as the wide-boy made good, who embroils Bob in his world and then dumps him. These two main characters are well supported by Lindy Whiteford as the sex-starved Mrs Fairweather, who takes Bob to her Christian bosom, and as Auntie Vera, the brothel keeper tottering on gold platform high heels; Michael N Harbour in his four very different characters - the egregious barber, Mr Broughton, the repressed Mr Fairweather, the Brazilian bookie, Mendez, from Pontefract, and the hippie robber, Ted - and Catherine Bailey as Molly, the scrumptious tart who loves and loses, and Bernadette, the Irish bovver girl.
The staging is simple, a bare stage, with a few chairs and a staircase winding across the back of the stage against a frieze of Dickensian characters and the faces of the main political and social protagonists of the second half of the 20th Century. Hidden doors and the back end of a van are imaginatively used to broaden the action, whilst the sound, music and lighting heighten the enjoyment of a good evening in the theatre.
Bob Scallion: Adrian Edmondson
Mrs Fairweather/Auntie Vera: Lindy Whiteford
Edgar Broughton/Mr Fairweather/Mr Mendez/Ted: Michael N. Harbour
Tommy Marchbank/Fleg: Colin Tarrant
Molly/Bernadette: Catherine Bailey
Director: Ben Crocker
Designer: Kit Surrey
Lighting: Robin Carter
Sound: Duncan Chave
Fight director: Renny Krupinski
2003-03-22 03:00:15