Reviews

Timothy

Michael Milne and David K Barnes‘ blissfully funny new play Timothy is an absurd tale of a wife who becomes convinced her husband is trying to murder her. She persuades her closest friends of this, and the ensuing gossip, assumptions and hysteria lead to chaos.

Milnes and Barnes’ energetic and tightly controlled writing requires strong, committed and perfectly timed performances – and it gets them in this production. Sarah McGuinness adopts Miranda Hart-esque physicality, and injects wonderful farcical elements to the piece, while Tom Shah is excellent as the title character, Timothy.

The dialogue is littered with some crackingly funny lines – “You have rat poison and a husband! Put two and two together!” – in a storyline that, while obviously darkly comic, is also surprisingly sweet. Although it’s early in the Fringe day, I’d recommend setting your alarm clock for a chance to catch this 45 minutes of fun.

– Chris Wheeler