Steptoe and Son (Tour – Salford)

Reviewed at an earlier stop on the tour.

Venue: The Lowry
Where: Salford

Always cited as a prime example of the Golden Age of TV sitcom, Steptoe and Son
was an unusual success story; you wouldn’t think stories about a couple
of rag and bone men held much potential. Particularly since it was the
epitome of lives of quiet, claustrophobic, desperation: Chekhov meets
Beckett.

The play takes the shape of four episodes, set in a yard
ingeniously re-imagined with an overstuffed cart full of rubbish and
complete with carousel horse. Oddly enough, to me, whereas with the TV
series, sympathies lay mostly with the son’s longing to escape, to
better himself, here it is somehow reversed even though the father is
still a whining manipulator, an expert in emotional blackmail, perhaps
because he seems less sleazy and livelier whereas the former seems more
of a violent bully. Excellent actors both, interestingly, there is
little resemblance to the originals; even the notorious catchphrase
pronounced with a different intonation.

In the final episode,
with its focus again reversed, on Albert’s future and Harold’s past,
there are scenes of great tenderness: Mike Shepherd and Dean Nolan
carefully dressing each other up for a special evening. Here, as in the
rest of the play, their essential loneliness is quite heartbreaking.

Cleverly,
a woman’s place, here, is to leaven the mix, which Kirsty Woodward does
beautifully, incorporating such roles as Bunny Girl and Doctor. Over
the top song and dance routines, mime, pantomime, fantasy, all are
thrown into the mix; if whimsical, the curious juxtaposition works a
treat.

Surreal or bizarre, as the fancy takes you, not really my
cup of tea. However, for many, Kneehigh, creators of some memorable
theatre (Bacchae, Hansel and Gretel), have done it again.

– Carole Baldock (Reviewed in Liverpool)