Meeting people’s needs isn’t always efficient. So what happens when government departments are privatised, and monetary profit becomes the primary concern in public services?
An interesting and entertaining piece of new writing from William Stanton, if the material is developed from this showcase, and staged in a full run later this year, as is intended, it will certainly be worth seeing.
Gavin Dredge goes to what has become Intelligent Wellbeing Solutions to appeal against their decision to revoke his mother’s vital prescription. However, what he finds is a Kafka-esque nightmare, where no answers seem likely. With elements of farce, physical comedy, and slapstick, this sharp political satire poses interesting questions, while keeping the laughs coming.
Ryan Spencer Wilson, as Dredge, succeeds not only in maintaining a straight performance amid the bizarre characters he encounters, but also in portraying a man who is utterly exhausted by meeting endless dead ends in a maze of bureaucracy. He serves as an everyman – relatable to by anyone who has been frustrated by red tape.
Role-doubling allows all of these bizarre characters to be performed by just three other actors, to hilarious effect. Each actor creates two dramatically contrasting personas, all inhabited with commitment and brilliant comic timing. Their often rapid, sometimes on-stage, transformations from one to the other add to the comedy of the farce, but also to the nightmare-ish quality of Dredge’s surreal experience.
The script is witty and intelligent, proffering interesting ideas in an engaging way. The cast maximise on the potential for laughter, and there are moments of lovely comic patter between peculiar characters. Limited stage-space is compounded by the large characters inhabiting it, creating an appropriately claustrophobic atmosphere, which emphasises the sense of distorted reality, rooted in the everyday of missing files and office furniture. With no set changes, a lively pace is maintained throughout, ensuring the audience remain entertained and invested in Dredge’s plight throughout unexpected plot twists.
An interesting and entertaining piece of new writing from William Stanton, if the material is developed from this showcase, and staged in a full run later this year, as is intended, it will certainly be worth seeing. That is, as long as it remains this sharp, this funny, and the miming of tea drinking and telephone calls improves!
