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Synopsis Constables Blunt and Gobbel have one last duty to fulfill before they can go home for Christmas; telling the old couple at No. 58 some terrible news. But what if the shock is too much for them? Maybe they'd be happier not knowing. Blunt and Gobbel did not sign up to ruin people's lives. And maybe it would all be much easier if the two constables weren't also stuck in the middle of a full-scale lynching operation by Parents Against Paedophile Scum... Downstairs
Black comedies don't come much blacker, or funnier, than The Lying Kind, a hugely welcome blast of seasonal ill-cheer set on Christmas Eve that piles on the preposterousness as it escalates the laughter.
Anthony Neilson - a highly regarded fringe writer of the bleaker, brutal recesses of human nature like the disturbing Stitching, recently seen at the Bush - has corralled his dark sensibility into a rollicking Royal Court commercial comedy that finally finds him on the main stage for the first time. The result is as if Joe Orton had been reincarnated, seen a Ray Cooney farce and decided to write a cross between the two, combining Orton-like jokes with Cooney-like structure.
A pair of blunderingly ineffectual police constables (Thomas Fisher and Darrell D'Silva) arrive at Number 58 with some terrible news to impart: the occupants' (Sheila Burrell and Patrick Godfrey) 34-year-old daughter Carol has been killed in a motorway accident on her way to celebrate Christmas with them. Neither is very happy at the prospect, though as one tells the other, "Being a policeman can't be just moving on buskers or exchanging friendly banter with the Countryside Alliance. There's bound to be some bad bits too".
They're just about to discover how bad, as their reluctance to share the truth leads to a round of cover-up and subterfuge, and involves everything from a paedophile lynching mob (led by Alison Newman's Gronya) and an apparently cross-dressing vicar (Matthew Pidgeon) to senile dementia, heart attacks and a dead dog.
Neilson maintains a steady grasp on the spiralling chaos and crossed-purposes in his own appealingly acted production. Wisely dispensing with an interval, it's played at full throttle across 100 continuous minutes. It may not be to everyone's comic taste, but for those looking for an antidote to relentless Christmas cheer, it might be just the kind of alternative festive fun you need.
Some of the pompous, trying to be hip Royal Court audience had trouble with this fantastically constructed, dark bit of fun from Neilson. More fool them. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.123.140.183)
17 Jan 03
This was a Christmas show with a difference: a black farce par excellence that manages to make a few serious points about our reaction to paedophilia. This is a well-plotted farce (although there's glaring plot howler that another director might have spotted) that had the audience laughing from the off. Warmly recommended. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.120.117.40)
03 Jan 03
Well, it's not the usual Royal Court fare, is it? I've enjoyed most productions there and having been spooked by 'Boy Gets Girl', intrigued by 'The Night Heron' and moved by 'The York Realist', this left me laughing and groaning. It starts off very slow and slowly warms up (unlike the auditorium which was bloody freezing) and by the end, my friends and I were having a good time. But yes, I accept the criticisms. A few duff performances and some of the jokes fall flat, but the show was neither bad nor brilliant. Three stars, but only just. Andrew B - USER: Whatsonstage.com (193.130.127.205)
10 Dec 02
As an antidote to the 'like it or loathe it's so far, my view would be that it doesn't quite work, but does have much to commend it and does offer us an alternative to the usual Christmas blandness. I think it would have helped, though, if the playright has trusted someone else to direct it. I thought the cast did very well all round and the set was fine. Certainly not a one star but not a four star either ! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (212.211.96.61)
Reading Mark Shentons review just goes to prove the old adage "One mans meat is another mans poison"! I cannot believe that anyone could find praise in this pointless, unfunny, dreadfully acted (save for Patrick Godfrey's Balthasar), horribly designed, and badly directed piece. I cannot remember being so bored at the Royal Court before. One of those (thankfully rare) occasions when I left struggling to find anything good to say about the play. As a Christmas show this more than qualifies as an absolute turkey!
Award 1 as a score is generous - unfortunately there does not seem to be a '0'. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.252.224.5)
The first theatre opened as The New Chelsea on 16 Apr 1870. Changed name to Belgravia. Re-opened as Royal Court 25 Jan 1871. Demolished in 1887. New theatre opened (current, slightly different site) 24 Sep 1888. Famous for supporting and commissioning new writing. Probably the first UK Theatre to regularly include their URL in advertising. Member of the Society of London Theatre. In 1996 the theatre closed for redevelopment, funded by the National Lottery. The refurbished theatre at Sloane Square re-opened in February 2000 including two theatres the 389 seat Jerwood Theatre Downstairs and the studio style Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
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