The best farce transports us to giddy comic heights because, no matter how far-fetched it becomes, the beginning is recognisable and the action powered by interior logic.
There is a reason for the vicar being in the wardrobe sans trousers. Sadly, no such strength of motive or character troubles The Great Extension, Cosh Omar’s laboured follow-up to The Battle of Green Lanes. I might be mistaken but I doubt many mosques perform early-morning marriages for drunken couples who aren’t regular worshippers.
But that’s Omar’s starting point, so off we trot after second-generation Turk Hassan (sparkily played by Omar) the morning after the nuptials before. Two exhausting hours later, we’ve had transgender houseboys, inter-Muslim shouting matches, furiously racist neighbours, Jewish builders and politically correct policemen.
Such an unconvincing scenario cannot support so many under-developed yet feverish fragments and Kerry Michael’s weak production is no help.
The Great Extension
Theatre Royal Stratford East
Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford, E15 1BN
