A company of actors of long-standing association are putting
on a show about conflict. But two of the four haven’t arrived in time for
curtain-up, so Swanny (Derek Frood) and the musical director, Fret (Thomas
Johnson), launch into an amusing, hammed-up story about a man setting sail in
his tin bath. When the errant pair, Duggan (Jordan Whyte) and Spurge (Michael
Wagg), finally enter stage left, already in full-on bicker mode, the scene is
set for an hour or so of name-calling, fist-flinging, muck-raking absurdity
that claims (so says the website) to ‘dig deep into the human compulsion to
argue the toss’ but which comes across as a rather slight, shambolic sketch
show that sits somewhere between a Saturday morning kids’ TV programme and a
student revue. By the end of it, I was longing for the reappearance of the
tin-bath sailor…
Although Theatre Alibi are justifiably renowned for their immersive,
inventive productions for younger audiences, Hammer & Tongs is not one of these – the language is too saucily
child-unfriendly for that – but neither does it seem quite committed to
exploring any adult themes to a satisfactory depth. Admittedly, there seems to
be an intention to make a mockery of arguing, since the only way to cope with
the ‘maddening, saddening, exhausting’ nature of it is to laugh in its face,
but the execution is such that it’s unclear who these characters are and why we
should care about their grievances at all.
Interwoven with scenes of the company bickering and sniping
‘backstage’ are episodes playing out examples of conflict – two children fight
over what to watch on TV, their parents then argue about the kids, a groom
attacks the wedding DJ after being forced onto the dancefloor, a bullied young
man battles his inner demons, called Crushing Doubt and Self Loathio – which have
a certain rolling nature that mirrors the circularity of most arguments but
which don’t offer enough insight into how and why we fight. They seem included
just to allow the actors to romp around the stage, farting in each other’s
faces and hitting each other with foam sticks. And rather than revealing
subtextual layers of characterisation or interrogating the process, a meta
level seam of self-referential comments – about the ‘crap’ dialogue, the
‘puerile’ humour, and the need the work out a decent ending – serve only to
highlight the show’s actual weaknesses.
I came away no wiser as to why humans argue, or even why
these particular characters argue (they might be sick of the sight of each
other – there are a number of references to how long they’ve all been working
together – but more likely it’s because they’re all so irritating). What is
clear is that this show is really not for me; I’m obviously a miserable
stick-in-the-mud for finding a feast of slapstick punch-ups, complete with schoolyard
insults and fart jokes, neither hilarious nor thought-provoking. Sorry.
Reviewed for Exeunt
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