When you have a job that is writing about theatre, you sit through a lot of plays that take themselves very seriously indeed. Laden with symbolism and long pregnant pauses are often the go to for American kitchen sink dramas. Not taking itself too seriously at all is Tobacco Theatre’s Bad Play at theSpace at Surgeon’s Hall.
Two brothers are returning home after two years away. Noble is returning from war, while the aptly named Bad Brad has just been released from prison. But not all may be as it seems, and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way.
The very concept of Bad Play is that it’s a badly written, badly acted and badly staged all-american play, and this of course makes for a very funny piece of theatre – think a much darker version of The Play That Goes Wrong with less slapstick.
It is dark humour, but with some cracking one-liners. Some of the jokes that require a longer set-up fail to pay off, but the cast have fun playing with so many of these melodramatic tropes.
The story does lose focus occasionally in the attempt to shoehorn in all these little parody moments, though the story is less important than the intent here.
The cast are clearly in their element, taking full advantage of the freedom the script gives them to really let loose. Lindsey Kempf stands out as Mabel, playing it straight with those middle distance stares down to a tee.
Bad Play isn’t quite bad enough to be great, but it has enough comedy moments to keep the audience entertained…and it’s certainly more entertaining than some of the more pretentious stuff that this successfully parodies.
