As one of the great villains of modern Britain, The Parking Warden is perhaps a subject desperately crying out for exposé via a one man show. Despite this, I approached a piece that provides just that – “High Vis” – with a sense of trepidation. How interesting could one hour’s worth of gags about fare-dodgers and double-yellows possibly be? My sense of expectation was reasonably low.
“High Vis” features Robert Cohen as Quint, a working-class traffic warden (sorry, Civil Enforcement Officer). Because an incident involving a mystery assassin resulted in Quint experiencing an unfortunate injury, he has had to leave the mean streets and instruct an audience of trainees about his profession. Quint waxes lyrical about subjects as varied as his gay son, immigration, his teenage sweetheart and sexual harassment over the course of one tragically comic hour.
To start off with, sitting in close quarters to a middle-aged obsessive instigating a training course for aspiring traffic wardens is about as entertaining and riveting as can be imagined. However, with just a flip-chart and mobile phone, Cohen manages to bring Clint and his milieu to life. As the performance went on, I found myself becoming enthralled in the world of this sad, strange little man to the extent that I left asking more questions than I would ever have imagined.
It is undoubtedly hard to discuss much of this performance without giving away the changes in mood and tone that are provided with each new revelation about Quint’s life. However, the piece certainly provides its audience with a plethora of emotions that relate to anyone who has juggled family, work, life and loss in contemporary British life.
Whilst certainly not a-laugh-a-minute, “High Vis” is in the spirit of “Coronation Street” or the great British Kitchen Sink Drama in that it scratches the surface of the salt-of-the-earth Northerner in ways that are both highly comic and bleakly tragic. Whilst some of the tangents on which he goes off are perhaps a little too irreverent, there is generally an astute observance of modern life in much of what is delivered.
In short, “High Vis” is very much like the traffic wardens on which it is based in that it unexpectedly sneaks up on you. However, this piece will leave you with a spring in your step rather than a hole in your wallet, even if it does take some time to get there.