Review: The Double Act, Arcola Theatre
A fast-paced satirical farce with a message for comedians old and new. Summary
Rating
Excellent
Mark Jagasia’s The Double Act, is one of those very special creations that is funny and dark at the same time. In fact the subject matter is so raw that you’re not sure if you should laugh or not. Set in a down-at-heel seaside town Billy (Nigel Betts) is one half of a seventies double act who has gone on to have a solo career. His stage partner Cliff (Nigel Cooke) now lives in the seaside town where Billy is expecting to play the gig of his life. Billy has been persuaded to visit Cliff by Gulliver (Edward Hogg) on the pretence that he is ill. Gulliver, it transpires, is being paid by Billy to make sure Cliff doesn’t share incriminating reminiscences in any potential memoirs.
Here we start the uncomfortable should-we-or-shouldn’t-we laugh. Cliff is certainly unwell and unstable; his actions and mispronunciations are funny – but should we laugh? Gulliver is very camp; his actions and dialogue are very funny – again, should we laugh? Of course we should, that’s what the play is designed to make us do in a gentle non-bullying way. We’re hopefully not laughing at, but laughing with. However, when we get to Billy, the humour changes. Billy is riding the wave of a right-wing resurgence fuelled by Brexit. His “humour” has always been racist, sexist and homophobic but his new followers encourage Billy to take it to another level supporting their entrenched prejudices. The result: his gigs are sold out.
The play makes no apology for being a farce, there are locked doors, imaginary snakes, sounds of haunting in the maisonette, a Kate Bush sequence, and Cliff in a Noddy outfit. It zips along at such speed that there’s hardly time to laugh, catch our breath or let certain lines land. All the action takes place in Cliff’s front room, with thunder and lightning effects through the window. Background music heightens the horror effects then quickly brings us back to the comedy.
The plot serves to get us to the nub of the play in the second act. Throughout, Cliff has been quoting the scriptures, he’d been “cast out” from the church for being weird but he understands that the material Billy is performing is no longer acceptable. Much like the house in the parables that was built on sand collapses, both the theatre Billy is supposed to be playing in, and his career, are rickety and unsafe, with disastrous consequences.
Mark Jagasia’s work, while it might jump around a bit has a clear message about the dangers of old school humour. Oscar Pearce’s directing may have overdone the farcical nature of the play and I wonder if some parts might have had more effect if played straighter. However, the superb acting qualities of Nigel Betts, Nigel Cooke and Edward Hogg carried The Double Act through to a thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining evening.
Written by: Mark Jagasia
Directed by: Oscar Pearce
Produced by: Katherine Farmer
Sound Design by: Dan Balfour
Movement Direction by: Sian Williams
Lighting Design by: Matt Haskins
The Double Act plays at Arcola Theatre until 22nd February. Further information and booking are available here.