| Performance details | Venue: York Theatre Royal Dates: 6 - 21 October 2006 Tickets: £4.00 - £10.00 Box office: 01904 623568 |
The first play, The Steal, opens with Steve and Dave, Tyneside welders discussing their lives and plans as they scratch around for work after the demise of ship-building. Quick-fire dialogue crackles between them and soon raises laughter from the audience, thanks to a sharp script and excellent delivery. The dry, sometimes dark, humour thinly disguises Steve's frustration as he tries to impress his new posh girlfriend Angela without the means - especially with Christmas approaching.
 | | Double Act |
Shocked at his grandmother's keenness to have a plaster cast made of her body as part of an installation at the new Baltic art gallery, he tries to dissuade her, thinking it unseemly at her age. She goes ahead despite his protests and later tells him of her positive, life-affirming experience, bemoaning the 'invisibility' of old age and berating him for his judgmental attitude. Steve's conventional outlook ("just because it says it's art on the tin doesn't mean it is") is further challenged by Dave who takes up welding work on the very same art project, creating metal sculptures from the plaster casts. Following his grandmother's death, Steve is seen working at the gallery with Dave, where he discovers her own sculpture, which he tries to steal. This is a warm and human story as well as a good comedy. Act Two The interval was followed by Men, Women, Inspectors and Dogs. | "Visual humour verging on the slapstick and some sparkling dialogue peppered with cliché kept the laughter alive" | |
"A good imagination is not a pre-requisite for a police officer, but I've found it invaluable in my work" Seventies TV themes beat out as a bold red street door opened and the cast burst onto the stage striking choreographed poses, each holding an exaggerated expression and setting the tone for the rest of the evening. Reality had to be suspended as we were taken on a romp through the Inspector's investigation all the way from police interview room to dinner party, by way of steam room. Plenty of visual humour verging on the slapstick and some sparkling dialogue peppered with cliché kept the laughter alive as the investigation progressed: as the characters secrets were revealed, thankfully it was hard to identify with them. Over-the-top in Seventies-style clothing the cast were more like caricatures of individuals plucked from the likes of Abigail's Party, Danger Man, Absolutely Fabulous and even Van der Valk (who could forget?), whose theme was used at the every end. The work could be described as something of a Brechtian quasi-didactic polemic reflecting the paradox of our times. But probably not. Jamie Searle | 
