Being able to write a first rate farce is one thing, but to conceal it in a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions in genius. Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce has enjoyed runs from the Edinburgh Fringe to New York, via London’s National Theatre, now it’s the first major production to open at Southwark Playhouse’s new venue – Elephant.
It could not be the more perfect location, just minutes away from the Walworth Road which is where the play is set. Nicky Allpress directs a play which is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, and a superb cast bring Walsh’s unbelievable characters into sharp focus.
It’s an ordinary day in the high rise flat just off Elephant and Castle for a family comprising a father and his two young adult sons. Sean’s just back from Tesco, Blake is ironing his dress, and their father, Dinny, is polishing the ‘Best Actor’ trophy. At Dinny’s command, they begin to perform the same play they’ve performed every day for years.
This play isn’t for us, it’s for themselves, or more specifically Dinny. His sons are effectively captives, fooled into believing that the outside presents danger, and even the daily trip to Tesco should be treated with caution. The play they perform has everything a good farce should have; impossible multi-rolling, confusion, and convoluted overlapping plot lines.
When Sean returns from Tesco with a sausage and crackers instead of chicken and a pan loaf, the ramifications are not yet clear, but very slowly Walsh’s ingenious script unravels the reality of what’s going on. For this reason the second act is more enjoyable than the first, which takes just a little too long to reveal its secrets.
Walsh recognises that all families re-write their history in some way or another, but here Dinny is rewriting, and reliving, his history on an epic scale. Imagining his arrival in London from Cork in an outrageous and comical fashion to hide the much darker reason for his flight from Ireland.
This is an Irish play, filled with words and phrases that just sound so much better with the Celtic lilt, and the play-within-the-play is underscored with ‘A Nation Once Again’ reminding us that Irish traditions often extend beyond borders, and even to the Walworth Road.
The farce itself is very funny, and you find yourself half wishing we could have a bit more of it. But in today’s performance the illusion is shattered for all by the arrival of an outsider; Hayley, the checkout girl from Tesco who’s taken a fancy to Sean, and is using her lunch break to correct the sausage/chicken mix up.
And so the normal routine unravels, Sean and Blake who have been all too willing to accept their father’s eccentricity, start to question the roles they’re playing in his deception of himself.
Emmet Byrne is a joy to watch as Sean, not only mastering the multi-rolling of the farce, but also bringing a real depth to the character of Sean. Byrne needs to deliver some heartfelt monologues, and where you were laughing at Sean’s funny haircut and silly voices a moment ago, you’re now captivated by the increasingly painful reality.
Killian Coyle playing Blake also has to portray all of the female characters in the farce, along with some of the men too. It’s an excitingly frenetic performance, and when Blake’s anger starts to boil over, you can feel the tension in the room. Of course, the real source of all the fury is Dinny, wonderfully played by Dan Skinner, who the audience comes to despise and sympathise with in equal measure.
Completing the cast is Rachelle Diedericks as Hayley, an unwilling participant in this game, Diedericks succeeds in conjuring up a an emotional roller coaster for the character. One of the funniest character traits is that Hayley likes to chat (it’s all that Tesco training) and so doesn’t immediately realise the situation she finds herself in, a bit like the audience of The Walworth Farce.
In reality, as an audience, we have to work hard with this one; it takes real concentration and determination to figure out what’s going on, and to keep track of the multiple plot lines unfolding all at once. But when you put in the effort, you are rewarded with an astoundingly clever piece of writing.
The Walworth Farce is at Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 18th March 2023.
