PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

The Brewery, Bristol (Thur 17-Sat 19 Nov)

THEATRE No such thing as a free lunch? Well, there is, or near as damn it, at The Brewery with this new pizza-fuelled lunchtime theatre slot. First up in what promises to become a fairly regular new-writing outlet at the Tobacco Factory’s adventurous sibling is Tamsin Walker’s short but sharp partners-in-crime drama, a finalist in the TF’s Script Space competition earlier in the year.

In what amounts to a digit-threatening grotesque comedy of errors, Mick – a verbose jack-the-lad with a knack for telling tales out of school – is supposedly informing the Law about what really happened the night he and his feckless mate Jimmy teamed up and laid siege to posh type Angela. Trouble is, of course, Mick is yer archetypal unreliable narrator and his version of events doesn’t bear much resemblance to what’s acted out on stage.

As a conceit, the juxtaposition’s a fertile one, and having been developed from page to stage in just eight days, director Emma Callander’s production zips along, niftily cutting between the two parallel versions of the story. Much hinges, of course, on the character of Mick, and Malcolm Hamilton delivers him up as a lager-swilling force of nature, whether he’s trying to persuade the cops he’s telling the truth, browbeating Jimmy (a suitably dour, browbeaten Adrian Harris) or trying to sweet-talk various women (Noni Lewis giving nicely turned vignettes as all three female characters).

As it stands, at twenty-odd minutes, ‘Digits’ is, perhaps, more extended sketch than short play, but the circumstances and the characters all offer plenty more room for development. In the meantime, it represents a strong start to another healthy-looking strand for new writing in the city. (Tom Phillips)

Copyright Tom Phillips 2011