one4review | On 08, Aug 2024

In this entertaining play, we meet two couples – Dan and Emma, and Bill and Margie. In the beginning, Dan oozes confidence and success, whereas his friend Bill, although content with his lot, has a wife (Margie) who wants more. Dan’s wife Emma appears to happily and passively accept her life at first, chiding her friend Margie’s constant complaints about Bill’s lack of ambition. As a prime example of Alpha Male, Dan orchestrates a new career for Bill as a comedian, using Dan’s red pipe cleaner puppet as a stooge, at the same time as batting away Emma’s queries into the success of his business and his relationship with Margie is less combative than it appears. Bill’s new career is a resounding success, and as his star rises, the cracks in Dan’s façade appear. As his life spirals out of control, he is visited by Funny Guy, a larger than life neon version of his pipe cleaner puppet, who delivers some hard hitting home truths.

Patrick Nash’s play is absorbing and well-acted by the ensemble. The appearance of the Neon puppet (also created by him) is a surprising but welcome addition to the action and lifts the play to another level. The audience was rather sparse the day I attended but we all thoroughly enjoyed our time with Funny Guy and the rest of the cast .

****1/2
Reviewed by Rona
5.20pm (55mins)
Greenside@George Street
Until 24th August (not 11 or 18)