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American Briefs
October 30, 2008
Above the Stag
28 October – 23 November 2008
An eager and enthusiastic crowd were rewarded with a promising inaugural performance 'Above the Stag' last night. American Briefs is a collection of short scenes and sketches drawn together from American playwrights. Between clichéd romance and some good old-fashioned melodrama Gareth Watkins and Graham Townsend particularly shone with some eye-catching performances of original and entertaining material.
The upstairs room of the Stag Pub (Victoria) has become a fifty seat theatre – London's newest and most central 'fringe' venue (at least for the time being!) – which provides a jaunty atmosphere for Peter Bull's dynamic direction.
Jim Dalglish's The Black Eye will stick in the memory for longest. Gareth Watkins' abrasion is earned in a commanding performance that somehow marries conceit with paternalism and soul, whilst opposite him Graham Townsend's dark anxiety provides a beautiful contrast to his creepy, borderline psychotic Geoffrey just moments later in Howard Walters' Your friend Michael which is another captivating interlude.
There are moments in Jack Heifner's The Student and the Handyman that somewhat peculiarly bring the preludes to soft porn melodramas to mind, which makes for slightly awkward company with the production's more original scenes. However, the front row's running commentary throughout ensured that this was an entertaining show no matter.
Leon Ancliffe is inspired and funny most notably in Ronnie Larsen's Isaac and his Sex Addictionbefore managing to touch upon deeper sentiment in David Johnston's Letters as the darker side of relationships are sensitively explored.
Of the lighter material The Phone Bill pulls off smutty – "I'm sick of phone sex" – banter to the backdrop of a scene Noel Coward would feel at home in - with the vernacular to boot. Richard Gee exhibits real comic potential in these scenes and does justice to the risks taken by Ronnie Larsen in the script.
- Alex MacDonald
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