Southwark Fair

Synopsis

Past misdemeanors bear down on the present when Patrick calls up one lover with another in mind. When his wife discovers what he's up to, she pursues his discarded date through the maelstrom of the South Bank, where a Bird Whistler flogs his wares, a trainee barista primes himself for his wedding, and an elderly actress stalks the Deputy Mayor of London. Unexpectedly connected by time and place, a tangle of lost souls fight, fall in love and lay their private fears bare in this evocative metropolitan comedy.

Our Review:

17 February 2006

This world premiere of Samuel Adamson’s Southwark Fair comes just three days after the West End opening of Blackbird and covers similar ground: in David Harrower’s play, a young woman revisits a former friend of her father’s who abused her when she was 12; in Adamson’s, a young gay man lunches with the one-time summer school drama director who he lost his virginity to when he was 14. Did the acts represent paedophilia or consensual – if cross-generational – desire? Years later, what are the consequences? And who is the victim?

Despite the shared central theme, there the plays’ similarities end. Whereas Blackbird, set in a non-descript nowhere-anywhere office building, is harrowing and accusatory, Southwark Fair is wryly celebratory and played out against the highly specified London borough of the title.

Rory Kinnear’s nostalgically smitten Simon is delighted when Con O'Neil’...

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Latest User Review

212.135.157.226) - 6 June 2006:

A shame that this play, which starts off with great promise, degenerates into an incoherent mess with largely 2-dimensional characters. The best scene by far comes early in the first half, featuring Rory Kinnear and Con O'Neill in a cringe-worthy dinner date that has shades of Abigails Party written all over it. I thought Rory gave a great performance throughout and is by far the most likeable character on the stage. The one armed grunge songstress was extremley irritating, to the point where I could understand why Con preferred to dabble with young men. For anyone who saw Con O'Neil in Telstar, as I did, it is disappointing to see him almost reprise his nervous break-down in this play, using all the same facial tics and movements. Yes, there is a clever device which makes the play slightly more understandable in the second half-the problem for me was that I really didn't care about the characters. It was all rather far-fetched and pointless. My tip-don't spend more than £10 on this....

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