Victorian in the Wall: Theatre Review
The Victorian in the Wall
By Will Adamsdale, with additional material from Jason Barnett, Chris Branch, Matthew Steer and Melanie Wilson
The Royal Court Theatre
Last night I treated myself to a joyfully light-hearted evening at the Royal Court. Light-hearted is not an adjective I would usually in connection with a Royal Court production, but this one, a collaboration with Fuel, was a thoroughly welcome break. This story of a Victorian of a wall, The Victorian In The Wall, was fabulously off-the-wall.
This eccentrically random production told the story of Guy (Will Adamsdale) and Fi (Melanie Wilson) (stock middle class early thirty some-things) who plan to knock through from the kitchen to the sitting room of their Victorian conversion flat in an edgy (“but not too edgy”) part of London. Riddled with clichés of this earnestly cycling and re-cycling not-quite-DINKY couple, the play poked fun at the latte-drinking Hackney stereotype with hilarious results.
So far so predictable: mid “knock through” a bona fide Victorian appears (played with a poker straight face by Matthew Steer), followed not long afterwards by an adult Nigerian (Jason Barnett was not afraid of a stereotype or two here either), claiming to have been adopted by Guy. None of the characters appear to be remotely surprised or frightened by the turn of events, or of each other. The proceedings become increasingly strange by the interspersion of song, giving the play an atmosphere of music hall cabaret.
On top of this was the use of on-stage sound effects with a whiff of home-cooked Katie Mitchell. This, along with the surreal mix of the bizarre and the mundane made for a distinctly refreshing and un-taxing play: one I would not hesitate to recommend.
This will be showing until 8th June, book tickets here: http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/the-victorian-in-the-wall
