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Dumb Show

Rose Theatre Kingston, Kingston
From: Thursday, 1st April 2010
To: Saturday, 17 April 2010

Our Review: starstar

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Synopsis

Joe Penhall’s black comedy tells the story of Barry, aka ‘Mr Saturday Night’ a TV comedian and presenter, who has never quite been able to grasp the celebrity lifestyle he so desperately craves. So when two corporate bankers lure him with the promise of serious money and the perks of fame, he greedily takes the bait. But celebrity comes at a price and Barry becomes the victim of a major tabloid sting.

Our Review: starstar

Theo Bosanquet - 8 April 2010

First seen in 2004, Joe Penhall's three-hander now seems both prescient yet also out-dated, its central protagonist Barry – a primetime TV comic masking marital problems and a drug habit – rather quaint in the wake of recent tabloid scandals involving the likes of John Terry and Tiger Woods.

As a play it struggles to match the intelligence of Blue/Orange, Penhall's 2000 multi award-winner, and undermines its message thanks to some predictable plotting and the stereotypical nature of its characters.

The action is set in a plush hotel room, where Barry falls victim to a journalistic entrapment. Whereas Sven was caught out by fake sheikhs, Barry's undoing comes in the form of two 'bankers', Greg and Liz, offering to “take care of everything” with a lucrative golden handshake.

Barry, forgetting the basic rule of media stings ('if it looks too good to be true, they're probably from the News of the World'), agrees, before rec...

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Creative

Joe Penhall (Author)
Rose Theatre (Producer)
Stephen Unwin (Director)


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