You know you’re in for an interesting night when the ticket details state ‘audience may be handed fake limbs during this performance’ – so expect nothing less than a ‘slapstick meets impersonation‘ barrel of laughs from duo Elizabeth Eaton and Lydia Keating’s ‘Going AWOL’.
The performance highlights the adventures of two colleagues, Valerie Silverston and Nancy Upshaw who set out on a mission to dispose of several body parts belonging to their boss Douglas McDonnelly, after ‘accidently’ murdering him.
Valerie, the brains behind the idea (no pun intended) decides they must flee and so they sail, drive and cycle their way through all sorts of trouble.
The array of characters they meet on their journey, from the snooping French policeman to Fabio the Italian chef, leave the audience weeping with laughter and stunned by Eaton and Keating’s versatility.
One of the most humorous aspects of their show is the interaction with the audience, casually throwing fake limbs into the crowd, spraying water during their sailing trip and at one point even handing me a torch and asking me to ‘wave it around at the stage to create a searchlight effect’ whilst the characters escaped from the police. Rest assured, I obliged.
As well as a large amount of impressive ‘character hopping’, the play also includes a clever selection of props. During a particularly epic ‘trip through Italy’ where one of the deceased’s arms ends up in a big pot of spaghetti, the play suddenly transforms into a mini puppet show, complete with a toy-sized leaning tower of Pisa.
With all of the props displayed as part of the set, it isn’t difficult to find yourself searching the stage, wondering how each piece links to the next adventure. Little did I know that after spying a blue ukulele and assuming there would be a musical element, what I in fact witnessed was the character of Nancy using the instrument to compose an impromptu song to a bull named Steve, in an attempt to prevent being mauled. By this point in the play, nothing can shock you.
So do they get away with their plan to flee and hide the evidence…? What kind of trouble could they possibly get into next…?
Reviewed by Stephanie Legg
Going AWOL
is at the Bread & Roses Theatre until 21st June.
The show will be at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 4th August and 14th – 19th August.
The new PARK90 season opens with the world premiere of a highly topical drama involving a scientific controversy, The View From Nowhere, presented by the same creative team behind the critically acclaimed Warehouse of Dreams at Lion and Unicorn Theatre. Written by Chuck Anderson and directed by Dan Phillips, The View From Nowhere stars Nina Toussaint-White, Mensah Bediako, Math Sams and Emma Mulkern.
Prez is a brilliant biochemist. His experiments show a leading herbicide is carcinogenic. He has an existential fight against entrenched interests on his hands – not helped by the fact that he dresses like David Bowie, and carries a chip on his shoulder as big as the sink estate he grew up on. In his heart he knows he’s right, but can he prove it?
The plot turns on the scientific fact that eight out of ten of us have minute traces of a potentially dangerous herbicide in our urine. This echoes concerns about glyphosate, an ingredient in Roundup, the leading weedkiller marketed by Monsanto, which is vital to worldwide food production. The European Commission is now considering scientific evidence on whether it is a carcinogenic agent. That decision is anticipated before the end of this year.
Nina Toussaint-White plays Rona. Best known for roles in EastEnders, Switch and Emmerdale, Nina’s stage credits include The Libertine (Theatre Royal Bath and Haymarket), The Etienne Sisters (Theatre Royal Stratford East – Nominated for Best Performance in a Musical at the UK Theatre Awards 2016) and Race (Hampstead Theatre). Other television credits include Gameface, Uncle, Holby City and Death in Paradise.
Mensah Bediako plays Prez. A veteran of the stage, his extensive theatre credits include The Bodyguard (UK tour), One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre and UK tour), Fast Cuts and Snap Shots (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Harder They Come (Barbican), Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse) and Tobias and the Angel (Young Vic). Television and film credits include Chasing Shadows, Mr Mzuza, Popular Unrest and The Real Kathy Hayden.
Emma Mulkern plays Sandy Jones. Theatre credits include Rough Music (Pint Sized Plays), Courting Drama (Theatre Renegade) and The Cause (ACS Random). Television credits include American Monster.
Math Sams plays Dr Tom Pennington. Theatre credits include Chimerica (Harold Pinter Theatre), Jane Eyre (Birmingham Old Rep), Being Nice (Derby Studio), Old Bag (Theatre 503), Do Worms Have Hearts? (Old Red Lion), Buried Child (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) and The Seagull (Cockpit). Television and film credits include Suicide Platoon, The Truth, Turbulence and For the Fallen
Writer and Producer Chuck Anderson has had his TV plays produced by CBS Television and MGM-TV, Hollywood. In the UK, he has authored fiction and non-fiction books. In 2014, his play, Warehouse of Dreams, about running a UNHCR camp for Syrian refugees, won enthusiastic reviews at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre.
Director Dan Phillips’ credits include the Welsh premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the new musical Something Something Lazarus at The King’s Head Theatre, The Lonely Walk Home in Manchester and April in Paris in Germany.
Set design is by May Jennifer Davies, Costume design is by Dan Street, Lighting design is by Chris Howells and the musical composer is Simon Arrowsmith.
