The Way Old Friends Do - Birmingham Rep / Tour / Criterion

Proving, once again, that in theatre it's not what you know, but who you're married to!

He has another play on at Riverside Studios which sounds excruciating and thematically sub-Gatiss.

“After ten years of marriage, Tom and Tim decide to spice up their sex life by booking an evening in a dungeon with a gorgeous male escort. Meanwhile, crime-busting superhero, the Stallion, and his intrepid side-kick, Butterfly, have been lured to the secret lair of their arch-nemesis: the dastardly Villainor.”

Ugh nepotism sucks.

Plus Guildford, for sure, as I bagged a £15 "Early Bird" ticket as soon as public booking opened. Sensibly, the Yvonne Arnaud starts this from midnight (I assume); certainly on the appointed day I can book as soon as I get up - no annoying hanging around until 10 am or worse.

I missed this thread when it was opened but I'm sorry to say the first act of 'Horseplay' at Riverside last year was about the most excruciating hour I've ever spent in a theatre. Genuinely impressed that on the back of that he's managed to get Mark Gatiss to work with him again.

Yes, I know, and it was referred to upthread. I was just trying to add a little extra voice to the nepotism complaint, whilst adding the information that I found their previous collaboration appalling.

A lot of people seemed to hate Horseplay - I found it quite fun! Not terrific, but fun nonetheless.

They didn't collaborate on HorsePlay, if that's what you're saying here.  It was written by Ian Hallard, yes, but Mark Gatiss didn't direct it.

I think Gatiss directed The Boys in the Band which Ian Hallard starred in. 

As the cast emerged for their curtain call to the strains of Dancing Queen, you could feel the audience -- spontaneously clapping along -- willing the performers to burst into song. It was unrequited. We never get to see the tribute act, central to the story, perform.

For a show obsessing over Abba, there's precious little of their music. We are treated to snatches as the set awkwardly and slowly revolves between scenes, but the soundtrack is cut just as the first notes of the hook are heard. It's a two-hour Pr**k-tease for Abba fans.

What we have instead is a fairly conventional play, if something this gay can be described as such. There are some sharp, comic one-liners, some pathos and a little melodrama. Buried somewhere is a good story about rekindling old friendships, but it is overwhelmed by the Abba theme.

For a preview, the cast are already doing a great job in milking the maximum amount of humour from the material, although some lines were lost through not pausing until the laughter had subsided.

Programmes are promised but not ready yet. The cast list on the theatre website has Mrs Campbell played by Sara Crowe and no understudies credited, so I don't know who the black actress is who took on the role tonight, but she garnered some of the best laughs with her mannerisms as Abba's bearded Benny.

The Studio at the Rep is a soulless, large cube of a room, and The Way Old Friends Do, with seating on three sides, does not work best in such a space. There are no stage wings to channel the actors' voices forwards, and the scene-shifting music is under-amplified.

Too much of the dialogue is looking to deliver the next joke rather than developing the characters. One of the best scenes is a simple telephone call between Ian Hallard's Peter and his nan (voiced brilliantly by Miriam Margolyes). The play needs more of those introspective moments. The secondary characters present as interesting, but are then not properly explored. I couldn't help thinking that a film would be a more suitable vehicle for this story.

As it stands, this is a solid, three-star drama that will provide a moderately entertaining night out, no more. With more depth to the narrative, slicker set changes and a pay-off musical finale, it could be very good indeed.

Three stars.

Act 1: 19:46-20:40
Act 2: 21:01-22:03

The understudy is Tariye Peterside. She played the part of Mrs Campbell on 18th Feb as well. Great cast and a very enjoyable evening. Loved it.

A friend of mine went night after me and totally hated it plays to ever gay cliche and stereotype dated and offensive … and said that 2 hours he will never get back … just goes to show how marmite shows can be 😊🎭

I saw this last night at the Park and I found it sloppily written ( with an occasional laugh out loud line), amateurishly acted - with the exceptions of Sara Crowe ( who found comic gold in some of her reactions and line readings) and Donna Berlin as the pragmatic stage manager. Mr Gatiss's staging is awkward and unconvincing. The initial meeting ( or rather reunion) between Mr Bradshaw and Mr Hallard happens off-stage and the awkwardness of their situation is dismissed very quickly. As for the rest of the play I suppose you could dismiss it as "a bit of fun" but there are hints throughout that Mr Hallard actually wanted to write a semi-serious play about lonely people finding themselves through a group effort. As the drama unfolds in the second act I sat there bewildered: Were we supposed to care about any of these people? Mr Bradshaw and Mr Hallard's lack of chemistry doesn't help. I just found the whole evening to be mildly funny and instantly forgettable. And to have the shortest of snippets of ABBA music between scenes and a longer excerpt for the bows makes me feel as if they're cheating ABBA fans of what they probably came for. 2 stars from me.