WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT? To 19 April.
London
WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?
by Warren Bacci
Pleasance Theatre To 19 April 2003
Tue-Fri/Sun 7.30pm Sat 5pm & 8pm
Runs 2hr 5min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7609 1800
www.pleasance.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 March
Flaccid direction and acting don't help a play uncertain of its identity.Success for the premiere of this new play, pouring its central action into Golds night-club, led to its revival, transferring from the Courtyard Theatre near King's Cross to the Pleasance in Islington. The new stage exposes the weaknesses in script and (the new) production. It's only right to encourage new actors and writers – and there are some reasons for encouraging Warren Bacci as writer – but there are limits on what should be set before paying audiences.
Two groups go for Golds; there's the amateur soccer team, two of its members discovering their gay identity – which they discover some time after us and certainly later than their homophobic team mates. Then there are three sisters – or two and a half, one being a half sister who takes up with team-member Tom.
Maybe the idea of fitting these characters into a thriller format seemed a way of holding up interest in the relationships by hooking attention on to a story. But crime writing – and especially drama – needs massive skill (Agatha Christie got it right in novels, but was often floored in the theatre).
Though it opens the morning after with a death to be explored, much of the plot floods in near the end, and depends on random happenings. The police are tired cliches derived from routine cop-shows.
With experience and confidence Bacci might smarten up his act. It's hard to see anything coming from the slack, unevenly-acted production, where it soon becomes clear competence is the best to hope for. A couple of performances here are embarrassing, while others are simply dull.
It impacts on the play: the height – or depth – of the homophobia comes with the drunken coach; by making him a violent-tempered drunk the potential for debate is wiped out in favour of an easy sympathy.
Bacci has a character-driven situation which he tries to drive by plot. Best is the dawning relationship of the two young men and the pressures it faces. Really, the play needs to be on TV, with tight editing and plenty of background realism to soak up the less convincing sections of plot and procedures.
Chris Jackson: Warren Bacci
Inspector Williams/Bar Girl: Natalie Hobday
Sarah Collins: Nina Lacelle
Lee/Sergeant Stuart: Benjamin Stanley
Kenny: Ian Brandon
Tom Greenwell: Giles Alderson
Jim Harding: Rod Hunt
Coach Gordon: Stuart Muirs
Jude Barker: Ide Chaihemen
Kelly Barker: Andi Osbo
Michael Walker: Adam Lee
Tara: Charlotte Bacon
Jerry Redgrave: James Austin Harvey
Director: Elgiva Field
Designer: Rosemary Flegg
Lighting: James Field
Sound: Elgiva Field/Frances Bifield
Assistant Director: Frances Bifield
2003-03-27 00:53:57