Twilight Theatre Company’s A Play On Words (Front Room @ Assembly @ St Andrews Square) is a two-man show exploring the exact meaning of the words we use and why we say what we say, and whether we really mean what we say. It’s a clever, but somewhat irritating, back and forth between the two men, one of whom is particularly pedantic and the other one who is increasingly frustrated by the pernicketyness of his friend. I’m not surprised. He would certainly drive me mad. What he’s picking his friend up on, except in one case, seems beyond common sense. In one instance he picks him up on the use of the wrong word, entomology instead of etymology, which does indeed seem reasonable and helpful. The rest is, for the most part, just downright annoying.
The word play is clever, I’ll give them that and the two men keep the dialogue going pretty seamlessly, against the odds. The pedant appears to be somewhat smarter than his friend, but also more than a little condescending towards him. He may be smart, but he’s also a bit of a know-it-all, tying his friend in knots with his word play.
As A Play On Words progresses, discussion turns to a blank, white square of card. It transpires that the pedant wants to write a slogan on either side which says contradictory things, in order to start a riot at a political rally. A long discussion ensues about what he might write on each side. Ideas are exchanged and explored and the petty pedantry subsides somewhat. It’s actually quite fun and I actually quite liked both men at this point.
To reveal the denouement of A Play On Words would be to give the game away but it suggests, to a large extent, that all of the discussions have been for nothing and a bit of a waste of time.
I’ll say it again. It’s clever. But annoying. But well-acted. The audience around me evidently found it a lot funnier than I did. I hardly laughed, though I admit to a few wry smiles. I’m a pedant as far as grammar goes, but I hope I’m not the annoying bore I found the pedantic character in this play.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
