Have you ever wondered what Hyacinth Bucket might be like were she to return from the dead? This play does just that, and makes for a whole lot of silly panto-esque fun. Rating
Excellent
Sometimes a dose of silliness is needed. And without any doubt Digging Up Appearances is 100 per cent just that – with an added dose of mutilation or cannibalism. But what would you expect from a show that came from Old Red Lion’s GrimFest season?
First things first, let’s get the obvious out of the way. The more eagle-eyed amongst us will notice the title’s play on words of the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. It’s entirely intentional, as this is set years after Hyacinth Bucket’s death – and resurrection. It’s very clear writers/performers Jack Robertson and Anton Tweedale are fans of the BBC comedy, showing a love for their characters meaning that as silly as things get, the show is never anything but a homage to its origins. Even as someone who never watched the BBC production, I can appreciate its cultural importance, knowing full well her name is pronounced ‘Bouquet’.
It all begins sedately enough. Hyacinth’s son Sheridan, a character only ever mentioned in the BBC show, never seen, is heading into a psychiatric session. He starts relating an all too familiar story of someone struggling with everyday life, brought to a head following the breakup of his marriage to Alan. Except soon his story changes, telling how through a magic amulet his mother came back to life, with quite the taste for human flesh. And she has rather a heavy appetite.
This really is a show written to wring every single corny line out of its concept. The TV show is very much about snobbery and a desire to socially climb, yet having been resurrected, Hyacinth has not changed one bit, still eager to be seen as refined, still dominating the lives of all those within her orbit. Her son doesn’t stand a chance once she reappears in his life, too afraid to correct her assumption that he runs the golf club where he works, when in reality he is the receptionist.
Robertson milks his character as the domineering mother magnificently, savouring a role where he can be completely over the top and with very little sign he is holding anything back. It’s a wonderfully ridiculous turn, much like a pantomime dame. It is also probably a wise decision to regularly take him on and off stage so that the audience get a break from his full-frontal attack. Tweedale, the browbeaten son, then brings a much-needed calmness, returning us every so often to the psychiatrist’s couch to continue recounting the story – all while the body count tots up and the gruesome manners of death become more and more extreme.
The writing neatly allows for such silliness. With the exception of a few severed hands and a dash of blood, the horrific events are described rather than seen, all in a matter-of-fact way that’s completely at odds with their brutality. The four dinner party guests (or at least their remains) are described with a look of horror on Sheridan’s face as he goes over how each was found. It’s the calmness of telling that brings the images in our head to glorious life.
Digging Up Appearances never pretends to be anything other than a piece of silly comic horror. It would be all too easy to be as snobbish as the reanimated Hyacinth and sneer at it, but that would be utterly pointless. Sometimes it’s good to just sit back and laugh loudly at a production packed with innuendo and terrible puns. We all need the occasional show like this.
Written by Jack Robertson and Anton Tweedale
Produced by Medium Rare
Digging Up Appearances has completed its current run, but will be showing again for a Mother’s Day Special performance on Sunday 15 March. GrimFest will return in October.
