photo by Kamal Prashar
The production company behind Sleeping Dogs, Drowning Fish Productions, is a big hit with Barons Court Theatre, which has hosted their last three plays on its underground stage.
The theatre space itself is hugely atmospheric; seating about 60 people on three sides of the stage, with large dark arches framing the audience. But unfortunately, the play doesn’t live up to its surroundings. This Drowning Fish production is dead in the water.
Roz, played by Barbara Hatwell, who is most well known as Anthea Dixon in Brookside, is “England’s first celebrity psychiatrist”. She hosts a radio show in which she advises desperate members of the public on love and sex. She is married to Leo (Edmund Dehn) and they are blissfully happy. “Soul mates” Leo smugly says. They have a son called Alex who may or may not be gay, but either way he’s found God, plays in the temple rock band and wears eyeliner.
Alex’s hazardous sexuality is Roz and Leo’s biggest concern for most of the first half, until Leo is visited by an old friend who threatens to reveal a secret from his past that could destroy his perfect life. During the rest of the play, more and more skeletons are dragged out of Leo’s closet, begging the question, how well do we really know each other?
Poignant moments come from Barbara and Edmund’s portrayal of the slow and painful erosion of trust in a 25 year long marriage. Edmund’s Leo effectively walks the fine line between charm and desperation with his pleading smile and hopeful jokes, but mostly the acting is stiff and uncomfortable.
The occasional hesitation and overlapped line could be forgiven as press night nerves, but in this case, the entire script seems to be spoken in staccato. This can’t be blamed entirely on the actors, though, as Brenda Gottsche’s stilted script lacks the flow of natural conversation.
I would recommend a visit to Barons Court Theatre, the bar is vibrant and busy and the theatre space is truly atmospheric but in terms of the play, they should really have let sleeping dogs lie.
More information here.
Written by a Thoroughly Modern Miss, Jenny Greenwood.