Topless Mum by Ron Hutchinson. tour to 19 July.

Coventry

Tobacco Factory Productions and Imagineer Productions in association with the Tricycle Theatre present:
‘Topless Mum’: Ron Hutchinson:
Belgrade Theatre: Tkts 024 7655 3055
www.r: one interval: till 5 July
Start: 8pm
Review: Jan Pick 1.7.08

See Carole Woddis's review of this show in London for remaining tour dates.
When the boys come marching home.
Originally titled “Topless Mum in Dead Hero Shocker” this is a slightly edited version of the original. Squaddie Barry returns home from Afghanistan, a physical wreck and with a few mental problems. Invalided out of the army, and abandoned on the scrapheap of life, he and his wife, Tiffany, have come up with a scheme to make some money. Barry has a picture on his mobile phone showing the abuse of an Afghan prisoner by British soldiers, which Annie, the tabloid journalist, just cannot resist!

The set is simple but effective – two chairs and an office table on a small revolve, with a cylindrical backdrop for the projection of the photographs central to the plot, and on and around this the story unfolds.

Playing on the Piers Morgan Daily Mirror scandal of the faked photograph of similar abuses, this new play by Ron Hutchinson, is an exploration of the ‘slipperiness’ of visual imagery in today’s world. Is the picture what it seems? The tabloid journalists, with Giles Fagan as Kyle the editor and Emma Lowndes as the somewhat naïve Annie, the army - represented by Sylvestra le Touzel’s Kennedy, and Barry and Tiffany become locked in a relationship that gradually spirals into disaster.

Fagan lives down to the stereotypical view of the tabloid editor, Le Touzel is expected to convince us of her characters belief in the ideals of the British army, and naturally Barry and Tiffany live on a rundown estate that has gangs of children wrecking cars; but despite the somewhat clichéd views and ideas expressed, these are excellent performances. Louise Kempton as Tiffany and Alistair Wilkinson as Barry, manage to inject humour as well as pathos into their roles and although the plot seems unnecessarily contrived in places, there is enough here to produce a thought-provoking evening.

Barry: Alistair Wilkinson.
Annie: Emma Lowndes.
Kennedy: Sylvestra Le Touzel.
Tiffany: Louise Kempton.
Kyle: Giles Fagan.
Mitch: Jason Deer.

Director: Caroline Hunt.
Designer: Conor Murphy.
Lighting: Mark Howland.
Sound: John O'Hara.
Video: Jack Phelan.

2008-07-04 09:28:40