Snappy patter on the menu

10 April 2012

St John's Wood is a world unto itself and so is Nick Grosso's witty, crackling, but finally bemusing new play set in that borough. Directed by Kathy Burke, there's little in the way of story. Instead there's only a bunch of characters who've drifted into a kosher diner in NW8. There's the lippy, scantily clad waitress, a racist cabby, an elderly widow in a wheelchair and a strangely chirpy chappy in a soiled suit. Each is a Technicolor caricature, like cartoon sketches from an English seaside postcard.

Between them they talk about the busty assets of a Bratislavan waitress in the next room, the randy Spaniard who was formerly the restaurant's chef and, after smuggling in their lurid personal

histories, the foursome get down to unsavoury sexual conduct and personal abuse in the second half. From the author of the Royal Court's 1994 hit, Peaches, Grosso's writing sparkles with north London chatter. Absurdism seems to be his game and Joe Orton his model, but the demotic patter of his snappy dialogue is also wearing and unclearly targeted.

There may be symbolism in David Roger's design of a dead-end café with grimy magnolia tiles from yesteryear, but if there is deeper meaning in the small dead plant in the window and the flashes of lightning between scenes, it's not apparent. At least you can admire the detail of the acting in Burke's production that twitches with telling ticks and tricks. Claudie Blakley is a gauche, gobby waitress, Mark Benton a demonic clown of a cabby (forever adjusting the trousers caught in his bum) and June Watson a bewigged St John's Wood dinosaur covered in costume jewellery. Martin Freeman, from TV's The Office, is a grubby mystery man who teases out their sad lives, nodding and goading them all on to the finish. But once it's over, like the aged restaurant's kosher menu, little if anything has changed.

Kosher Harry

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in