A FAMILY BUSINESS AT SIXES AND 007s
This little theatre has given us some sturdy meat recently – themes of Nazi crimes, Jewishness, Russianness – however this time it hosts the Barn theatre’s sparky, brief and cheeky take by Jordan Waller on the James Bond franchise, directed by Derek Bond, no relation.. It comes simply at a beautiful topical second since – as per the play itself – the brand new Bond hovers unnamed within the close to future. It is a high-quality romp, coming in underneath two hours together with interval, invitations us to have a couple of ideas about poisonous masculinity, race and ingenerational misunderstanding.
It is fuelled by a manically satisfying efficiency by Tanya Franks because the imagined heiress of the Bond francise, a duty she holds collectively together with her cousin Malcolm (Phlip Bretherton), white-haired and cautious. She additionally fancies elevating her son the intern to producer degree, and presentis him with the classic Rolex Submariner worn by Connery within the first movie. But Quinn (Harry Goodson-Bevan) is extra fascinated by making a movie in Sierra LEone together with his hip boyfriend. So so far as human relations go (which is nowhere very deep) it’s a couple of highly effective girl’s conflicted emotions for each her father and her son, all twisted up with everybody’s emotions for James Bond.
It’s all punctuated by odd blasts of Bond music and as soon as even some smoke, and is at its greatest when joyfully cartoonish: Deborah on the cellphone snapping at scriptwriters “We love the schooldchilrenm we love the monks, but needs a twist”, discussing the blowing up of a large Buddha and emphasising that it’s for the boys “for god’s sake, he’s a MAN they need a MAN to make sense of the world we live in”. And as for a dressing up element “He’s not wearing high-vis! He’s James Bond, not a f–ing bin lady!”.
They have 24 hours earlier than the announcement of the brand new Bond, however after all as Malcolm and Quinn nip out and in it turns into clear that “David” gained’t do . Phone messages. To women. Young women. Kaput!. They agonize over audition tapes, one being blandly Bondish and apparent “Caucasian male six foot, dark hair” however Quinn says his buddy, a resting-actor barman, despatched oene in they usually all look. And it’s Theo (Obioma Ugoala) and he’s good. But he’s additionally brown. Dare they? Might this open the door to extra frighteningly various Bonds, figuring out everywhere with “mental health and feelings… Angela Merkel in an avocado suit..”) . Deborah at one level roars “TOxic males. Of cours’e he’s poisonous, he’s a f—ing bastard and thats what makes him a MAN!
Well, after all they dare. A bit. But then THeo seems to be vegetarian as nicely, and that’s not all. There’s extra. He could not even be proud of exploding the Buddha, and neither is Gen-Z Quinn. Panic rises. A small betrayal looms. More pastiche music and hysteria. A snap ending. Well, the journey has been enjoyable , but it surely hasn’t fairly led anyplace . Still, there’s a spot for that, in August.
marylebonetheatre.com to 30 Aug
RATING 3
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