Stage Fright

Drain a comedy of laughs and you’re left with little but a framework, and in this case that framework is hideously contrived and offers nothing in the way of suspense or surprise. Billed as “savagely funny” (aren’t they always), in actuality it’s savagely dull, and should never have made it to the rehearsal room, nevermind the stage.

The plot revolves around the attempt of two old friends – struggling actor Charles (Sion Tudor-Owen) and struggling writer Peter (Alex Barclay) – to mount a West End comeback, the former motivated primarily by a desire to get closer to ruthlessly ambitious wannabe celebrity Geraldine (Titmuss). As ‘Aldine’ drives a wedge between the two men in order to manipulate the play as a vehicle for herself, the jilted duo plot their revenge come the first night.

There are glimpses of satire (Peter pitching his latest writing project, a “dramatic essay on the bus stops of Oxford Street”), but generally the dialogue is at best gratingly expositional and at worst excruciatingly unfunny.

So what of Miss Titmuss? Well, like her co-stars she faces a daunting task trying to wring any laughs from this dry sponge of a script, not aided by the fact her comic timing is rather crude. On the other hand, she’s a magnetic presence, and certainly holds her own next to an oddly underpowered Barclay and an increasingly desperate Tudor-Owen, who goes awkwardly over-the-top in his attempts to illicit laughs.