Raising Martha, a new comedy by David Spicer, has made its debut at the Park Theatre. A family-run frog farm is under siege from animal rights activists, so much so that the place has been booby-trapped to keep them at bay. When two hapless activists steal the bones of the family’s long dead mother, it’s more than a corpse that is uncovered and family secrets are slowly revealed, including what else is being produced at the farm.
Raising Martha is undoubtedly a black comedy with hints of the absurdist, which become more heavy-handed as the play progresses. This type of humour doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I don’t think anyone would be disappointed, there are a good deal of very funny one-liners that fans of traditional comedy will still enjoy, even if some are a bit obvious.
Jeff Rawle gives an impressive performance as Inspector Clout, a character that seems to be a hybrid between Clouseau and Columbo, who also acts as a narrator. Joel Fry, as Jago, and Stephen Boxer, as Gerry, give equally worthy performances.
The set is well designed; the final resting place is found above the main scenery, which gives the audience the unusual opportunity to gaze up at a grave, with the narrator popping out of it now and again to update the audience on proceedings. Lighting and sound is also strong, accentuating the dialogue and helping to distract from some of the more overly chaotic scenes.
Raising Martha seems to be trying to do two things at once; firstly it’s a deliciously black comedy with lots of genuine laugh out loud moments, and at the same time it’s trying to make a serious point about animal welfare. There are several mentions of philosophy and you can see where we are supposed to have moments of realisation, such as during the scenes with 6 foot frogs, but it can be at odds with the more dominant comedy ingredients.
Raising Martha is an enjoyable comedy with plenty to keep everyone happy. There are elements that don’t work as well as others, but overall it has an interesting story and elicits enough laughs to make it a worthwhile trip to the theatre.
Saw this play tonight and loved it! It is wild wacky and very funny. Great cast and great writing by David Spicer. At last a good new comedy for 2017!