Start a play with the dulcet tones of Jeremy Kyle castigating some hapless father and you’re making a statement: this play will be unlike the home life of our dear Queen. In case you were in any doubt, there’s a large pile of drug paraphernalia in the corner and a stolen red leather sofa in the middle of the stage..
This sofa turns out to be considerably more trouble than it’s worth. One of a consignment taken in a lorry heist by small-time criminals Gaius and Timmo; as word gets round the criminal underworld, so Gaius and friends find themselves in considerable difficulty. The owner of the sofas, aided by his henchman, is remarkably keen to recover them and willing to engage in extreme violence to get what he wants.
In the main the play seemed to be aiming for a gritty realism. At times though this was drowned out by noise both literal- unnecessary loud music and flashing red lights punctuated every scene change, seriously breaking the flow at the beginning- and metaphorical. Why for instance did some scenes have members of the cast standing around mute with tights over their heads? It just served to clutter and confuse..
Martyn Horner-Glister’s Boss, the ruler of this criminal underworld, crackled with intelligent menace. In the final scene, where he leant over Gaius and crooned “Daddy knows”, he was both repulsive and strangely compelling. Fantastic stuff. Among other cast members though there was an awkward division between naturalistic acting and a heightened, exaggerated style. Tension, which should have slowly ratcheted up, instead peaked and fell too rapidly..
This is a work of new writing by Dean Graham, a young writer who is definitely one to watch. At its best plumbing the very blackest of humour in a brilliant scene with Danny Ridleigh as a vet with a decidedly whimsical response to being threatened with a gun, ‘Leather’ ultimately straddles realism and black comedy uneasily.
