Reviews

No Soft Option (24:7 Theatre Festival – Manchester)

Craig Hepworth says that this new production promises a great deal but does not deliver.

Three Minute Theatre, Manchester

No Soft Option publicity image
No Soft Option publicity image
© 24:7 Theatre Festival

No Soft Option is one of the first plays to open this year’s 24/7 festival, sadly the show fails to live up to the promise of the ‘zany comedy’ that it advertises itself as. In fact to call the show a comedy at all would be inaccurate.

Written by Brian Marchbank, the show tells the story of four people stuck with the task of painting a building as part of their community service orders. Trying to keep them all in line is a young woman supervising; as the day goes on, she along with the other four find a common bond and respect for each other… even if the building never gets painted.

The biggest problem here is the script – the humour is non existent yet you can see what the writer thought was funny. Sadly, the broad stereotypes have all been seen before. The script sees the characters go from being dismissive of each other to respecting and bonding with each other without really giving any reason why they would. At times it feels very Breakfast Club (right down to the spontaneous group humming and whistling moment) but without the heart, humour and drama that allowed those characters to find a connection with people they would not ordinarily connect with.

Stories and situations also seem oddly dated and many times the script seems unsure of what it wants to be or say. Just when you thought the play may be about to touch on a certain subject matter (a man charged with defending his own home) it decides to go another way.

The cast work hard with the material they have but with a script that is neither funny nor dramatic it sometimes feels like they are in separate plays.

Jane Allighan as the paranoid fidgety Karen stands out from the crowd, achieving some humour from her delivery and her physicality is also impressive. Kate McCradle tries hard with the material she is lumbered with and you can see that a genuinely funny comedic actress is dying to get out. Whilst everybody else works hard, they can sadly not rise above the material.

Whilst this play seems like a misfire it does have an interesting concept that could work if it was taken back to the writing room, Marchbank has a good ear for dialogue which leads me to believe that we could see more interesting work in the future.

However as a zany comedy this is incorrectly billed, as it never quite gets off the ground.

– Craig Hepworth