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Laughs from the riverbank
Ship ahoy: Paul Westwood as George and Alastair Whatley as Jerome with Harris played by Tom Hackney, providing an extra set of arms. Picture: Jack Ladenburg Three Men in a Boat
The Original Theatre Company
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
***** JEROME K. Jerome’s classic comedy is
fresh as a daisy in this dramatic re-telling given the ‘original’
treatment. It is the story a ‘holiday’ on the Thames of
three friends and their dog Montmorency - who is absolutely no trouble. There’s Jerome (Alistair Whatley), himself as
storyteller and general historical know all with his key cards, Harris
(Tom Hackney) constantly worrying about food and George (Paul Westwood)
who’s the fool of the party. We start in the back room of the rather grubby
‘Elusive Pelican’ sometime in Edwardian Surrey, with a delightful
Debussy recital from Miss Nelly Hancock (Anna Westlake) interrupted by
the double-booked talk by Jerome about his fateful and infamous trip. His two friends quibble with his memories and
attempt to dramatise in situ what REALLY happened with hilarious
results. It may be a collection of skits, sketches and songs but, oh
boy, the energy and inventiveness with which they are portrayed is
amazing. We, as audience, double as audience for the
rendition – they create a boat out of the pub furniture, have a bull
fight with their ‘Sary Gamps’ and play all the parts of the people they
meet on their trip. Mrs Poppet was brilliant as was the indecipherable
Scotsman both achieved by Harris (Tom Hackney). The whole is gloriously peppered with
anachronisms, for example the music from Titanic makes an appearance,
but the music hall songs that create musical interludes are wonderful,
‘I like pickled onions’ and ‘Any old iron’ in particular. The laughter of a little girl in the audience was
infectious at the part where ‘everything stopped for tea’, slurping in
unison for an incredible amount of time – the tension was tangible! Were
they really going to take 35 minutes! The stroke of genius for me was the moment when
the frenetic energy came to a complete halt as the body of a young woman
is found in the river. George’s sweet folk song was such a contrast to
the rest of the drama that it will stay with me for a long time.
Directed by Craig Gilbert this is well worth seeing, and I, for one,
will look out for ‘Original’ work in the future. To 18-10-14 Jane Howard
14-10-14
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