one4review | On 13, Aug 2018

I really enjoy Chekhov’s Bear, and this play has the same sort of feel: gently preposterous premise, characters you immediately care about, and a script that straddles the line of credulity. For the production itself, the set is relatively minimal, but effectively used. The cast are equally accomplished and no-one outshines or overshadows. The audience is involved but not at the risk of derailing the show.

Briefly, Alex is a corporate London property lawyer with scruples who returns to her rural hometown to assist her childhood friend. Lawyer for the prosecution is their other childhood friend, and from this no small amount of dramatic tension and humorous potential arises. Humour is also found in but not limited to the character of the judge, the various witnesses, the slapstick intervention of the set, and some delightfully silly word play.

There is development in character and plot, the one obvious plot-hole was dealt with convincingly enough that if you hadn’t noticed it, you would think the explanation was just part of the plot. This is a comic play, and it performs that function admirably well. Easy-going and entertaining fun.

Reveiwed by Laura
Pleasance Dome, 12:25