Office by Shan Khan

Company Soho Theatre Company
Venue on the Stage of the Royal Lyceum Theatre
Address Grindlay St nr Usher Hall
Reviewer Thelma Good

The bad news is you may have to wait till it gets to London before you see it, only returns left in Edinburgh now. The good news is this is a well written, street-wise play with tightly drawn characters who flash brilliantly before us as if we see them in strobe lighting.

The setting is a grimy road with two opened boothed public telephones in the area of Kings Cross, London. It's seedy and rough but that's Sharky (Avin Shah) and Showtime's (Mark Tonderai) office where they do the deals. Or rather they do the small deals - the big deals are done by Papa and they better be on the end of the line when he calls, even if Showtime is related. In two superb performances their s--t hot dialogue bounces across the stage and zips back again in riff-like patter between them.

The rest of the actors are excellent too. Molly (Susan Salmon) a feisty woman of the streets, exchanges also zing, changing in tone with Hazel (Emily Hiller), her younger, less knowing, more bruised fellow worker. A Traveller, Brencher (Danny Nussbaum) always ready to glide away on his skateboard, has a great scene where he tells of his excursion to Portugal and his line of non -legal business is just gentle like him. The upbeat tenor of most of the dialogue is only broken when Pringle (James Ryland) drops by for his usual and the playwright shows us the darkest side of this way of life. Pringle is a character that chills with his contradiction sponsoring an East European young person and treating British people in his care like dirt. In a small part Biffer (Daniel Newman) is the shell-suited loser guy after dope on credit - so believable I thought for a moment he'd stumbled in from the stage door and got into the play by accident. And I must mention the walk on actors who as passers by and punters got me seeing the play as actuality happening before me for real.

Naturalistic theatre is very hard to do well, this production triumphantly succeeds. I wish people not yet switched on to the theatre and festivals could get tickets but its small space on the stage of the Royal Lyceum makes this difficult but do try for returns. Why is it that so often the hits which could fire the rare theatre attender with a love of theatre end up only being seen by the cognoscenti who are already converted? This production should tour to studio theatres and night-club theatre spaces throughout Britain and beyond.

Shah Khan's first play with interesting subplots to lace the mix of black gold dialogue and crack actors gives a high to set you thinking as well as mellow pleasure with sharp direction injected by Abigail Morris. EIF have comissioned a play and production which if it were a Fringe one would get no drams needed and the comments it's pure uncut theatre.
© Thelma Good 13 August 2001