Went along to support a fellow board member, and very much enjoyed this.
For anyone else seeing "The Brothers Size" this week, as I did tonight, you can easily squeeze this show in, as it's done by 7:15pm, and the Young Vic is only 5 minutes away.
Spoilers follow. . .
If there's one thing I find difficult to get into, it's when a hyper-aggressive character makes jokes in a monologue. Simply put, if I'm on edge, I can't laugh. So at first, I had to endure being someone not laughing in a room full of laughers. And to compound the problem, the character speaks with such rapid youthful ferocity that my sluggish middle-aged mind struggled to keep pace. At first.
As with anyone, I slowly acclimatised to this gobby, excitable, drug-dealing scally, and having realised that the only harm he was going to do me was force me into a little light audience participation (involving a hollowed-out copy of "Treasure Island" used for storing smack), I relaxed and started laughing along with everyone else.
I think the first joke I really got, and enjoyed to the extent of a full belly laugh, was when our friendly online drug dealer explained that Newcastle girls introduce themselves like Geordie "ninjas:" "HIYA!" For some reason, that joke really hit me where I laugh, and from then on, I really enjoyed myself.
For his tale, of corrupting his unsuspecting gran's life by storing smack in her tea cosies (from which he might have removed her studiously stashed Des Lynam autograph), and dealing drugs online for bitcoin was detailed and fascinating.
And vivid characters constantly enlivened the piece, such as the tight-faced scrunched-up Scottish bouncer, who secretly lived to expound on the innovative complexity of Curly in Oklahoma.
At some level, this monologue is a cross between Trainspotting and "Everybody Loves Jamie," as the central character's relationship with his ever-loving gran (as tender and thoughtful as Jamie's mum) is the only anchor in an otherwise chaotic life, which involves £50,000 of Bitcoin and a scary drugs punter!
I found myself wondering if Paplazaroo secured himself £50,000 of Bitcoin in 2014, as I mused it would be worth £1,000,000 today. Oh the irony, in that the kid in the story need only have hung on to his Bitcoin to have become ever so rich indeed.
The actor, whose name, I think, is Josh Barrow, is a terrific impressionist, imbuing multiple characters with distinctive, vivid life, and he transforms over the course of the story from hyper frenetic ugliness to displaying a sensitive inner beauty.
This is a high-octane story, in action, humour and delivery, well-characterised, but the price of it's fast pace is that it never penetrates it's possible depths, and abruptly ends the moment it's chickens come home to roost.
Nonetheless, this is an awesome calling card for it's author, Alex Coates, and I very much hope he goes on to great great things!
3 and a half stars
