Reviews

The Charming Man

| Off-West End |

25 October 2010

Set in a near future where a newly draconian Green party, membership swelled by what the coalition Government have inflicted on the country, have become a credible political threat – mainly due to having been secretly bought by the son of a South African (read Australian) media mogul – The Charming Man certainly has the scope to sartorially reflect on the state of affairs at Westminster, unfortunately it never quite delivers.

A combination of half-baked characters such as political matriarch Sarah (Sarah Berger) and caricatures, mainly spin doctor-turned-potential Prime Minister Marcus (David Verrey), we see the meteoric rise of “charming man” Darren (Syrus Lowe), a gay, black youth worker and out-spoken bystander at a Green party rally who is transformed into the “Brixton Obama” and a credible threat to the political establishment, simply by being the country’s only straight talking politician. Kate Sissons does a reassuring job as the Green’s policy advisor, apparently the only senior member of the party left who remembered the party’s traditional concerns for “the environment”.

The piece tries to cover a lot of ground, and the writing, although politically grounded, witty and laugh out loud funny in places, often lacks subtly, punchlines and injustices just slightly too close to the surface. Lowe’s performance certainly echos pre-election Obama speeches and are delivered with potent charisma, however it took until the middle of the second act and an on-air ambush by radio “shock jock” Chris Warren (Christopher Brandon) for the political discourse to reach the speed or depth needed for the play to really feel like it was portraying real political operators.