The Frontline

Synopsis

Saturday night outside Camden tube; god, strip bars, weed, crack, lost old men, unemployed actors and vegans all collide in a riptide of chaos on the streets of London. There’s Beth the reformed Christian and Erkenwald the hot-dog seller, old Ragdale on a quest to find his daughter, Mordechai Thurrock the actor-playwright and egomaniac, and Cockburn, Elliot and Clayton the dealers and junkies, whose trade both sustains and destroys the lives of those around them. In this vibrant and blackly comic play, a dozen private stories emerge, and their voices give utterance to a storm of subjects and feelings: pop culture and sexual fantasy, the ruins of empire and the delusions of religion, foreign oil and prehistoric London. Contains bad language, and strong content.

Latest User Review

David Baxter - 12 August 2008:

Whatever it's merits The Frontline is a very odd choice for the Globe, particularly for a sunlit matinee. The overlapping dialogue prevents much coherent narrative, some of which is very repetitive, especially as much of it is lost in this acoustic minefield. There are moments of wit and storylines worth following mainly revolving around Jo Martin and Mo Sesay who are excellent as a lapdancer and her pacifist bouncer. However Che Walker comes dangerously close to glamourising the seedy parade of drugs and violence. Some of the writing is infantile reaching a nadir with the song "The War on Drugs is a War on Blacks" whilst reinforcing rather than challenging stereotypes. Matthew Dunster is an associate director of the Young Vic and with a firmer directorial hand The Frontline could very effective further along the South Bank....

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