THE TRACTOR GIRLS. Tour to 30 March.

Tour

THE TRACTOR GIRLS
by David Holman

Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company, with Salisbury Playhouse.
Running time: 2hr One interval

Tour to 30 March 2002
Review Hazel Brown 7 February at Salberg Studio, Salisbury Playhouse.

Black comedy about life in Russia as encountered by touring Ipswich Town supporters.Murder and mafia misdeeds liberally besmirch the scenes of this black comedy that follows the fortunes of the Tractor Boys and Girls – Ipswich Town Supporters – when their team plays a UEFA cup tie in Russia against Torpedo Moscow in 2001. The fact that the head of Russia's leading advertising agency was murdered on the streets of Moscow on the day I saw the play added grim reality to what might be dismissed as an implausible plot. However, Holman's play covers its many serious themes with a sure comic touch that should provoke much laughter and discussion amongst the young audience at which it is aimed.

In delight, two Tractor Girls, Caz and Mo, set off for Moscow, drawn by the prospect of vodka at 2p per litre. The sight of the first body outside Moscow airport puts Mo off and she returns home. This leaves Caz to cope on her own. Meanwhile Chekhov, the lugubrious hotel manager, played with splendid comic timing by Clive Holland, tries to cope with another mafia killing in his hotel and longs for the 'good old days' under the Soviet system. The contrast between current corruption in Russian and the relative stability under the Soviet system is one of the main themes of the play.

Caz teams up with Natalia, the maid at the former Tractor Girls Hotel (now renamed Las Vegas Hotel). Natalia supplements her low pay by sleeping with mafia hoods and teaches Caz about the realities of life in Moscow. Music – Russian, pop and football chants – adds to the atmosphere and lends a note of irony when the Labour party's election theme, "Things can only get better" is played over the bitter sweet ending. A good piece of thought provoking theatre on a brilliantly adaptable but grim, grey set that should appeal to a young and not so young audience.

Caz/Natalia's Mother: India Fisher
Chekhov: Clive Holland
Dean/Russian Soldier: Paul Huntley-Thomas
Troy/Grigori Pushkin: Adrian Metcalfe
Mo/Natalia: Emily Wood

Director: Jeremy James
Designer: Alex Eales
Lighting: Richard G Jones

2002-02-14 02:01:51