The Virtuous Burglar

Maybe I’ve been unlucky, but the two productions I’ve seen of this play have both been dire, and for similar reasons.

You don’t have to be Trevor Nunn to know that the key to farce is timing. But in this revival by SPL productions, the dodgy prop grandfather clock displays a better sense of it than the performers on stage.

Dario Fo sets out to skewer middle class hypocrisy by getting his titular burglar caught up in the complex love lives of a typical bourgeois household. First asked to pose as the husband of his mistress by the man of the house, the hapless thief is then press-ganged into faking it as a bigamist when his real wife shows up.

As doors slam and clocks chime (not necessarily on cue), the characters get wound up in layer upon layer of lies until it becomes clear the battle for the moral high ground has long been lost.

This is an amateurish production, with its shoddy sets and sloppy choreography. But at least there’s no shortage of energy to ensure it all moves at a mercifully brisk pace.