Tag Archives: Tom Salinsky.

16 POSTCODES

★★★

Pleasance Theatre

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16 POSTCODES at the Pleasance Theatre

★★★

“Regan clearly has a talent for light-hearted comedy and storytelling”

16 Postcodes is a series of short, autobiographic stories told by actor Jessica Regan about her experiences living in London. An audience member is invited up on stage to pick a postcode (written on a postcard and attached to the backdrop of the stage) and Regan performs the selected story. Each story is about a different London gaff and the spans are wide: from North to South, East to West. Regan has been on an expansive and diverse journey, trying to find what London means to her.

She greets the audience as they enter, innocently asking them where they’re from, to get them thinking about locations. She riffs with ease, nudging the audience into feeling comfortable about mild participation.

Regan clearly has a talent for light-hearted comedy and storytelling, combining both in this easy viewing series. As we dart through different postcodes, Regan covers important topics, such as: women’s safety, homelessness, feeling out of place, tight landlords. And she does this with a likeable comedic edge, blending naturalism with stand-up comedy.

The staging was a bare setup; simply with a table, two chairs and a small backdrop of greenery where Regan attaches the postcards with postcodes on. It could’ve been even simpler, giving her more freedom of movement, something which the show lacked. While the rough and ready set added to the charm of the piece, it felt clunky, at times; with Regan getting stuck behind obstacles while addressing the audience. There was use of a mic at one point too, which raised questions about its use and the reason for it.

The lighting and sound, too, were basic. With small changes either signifying time of day or change of scene, rather than mood and atmosphere. This meant that the show relied solely on Regan to deliver engaging narrative, which she did execute a lot of the time. The humour was a little tame and lacked some renter grit, but it made for an entertaining fifty minutes.

Any Londoner would see etchings of themselves in these short tales of renting, with humour used as a relieving mode of coping and a medium which ties the community together. There is felt, lived experience in the storytelling. 16 Postcodes finishes with some sad truths about the state of the renting sector. The show covers a timeline which starts in 2004, and the factual ending is a stark reminder of the situation a large number of Londoners find themselves in.


16 POSTCODES at the Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed on 29th October 2024

by Curtis Dean

Photography by Steve Ullathorne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

GIRLS REALLY LISTEN TO ME | ★★★★ | May 2024
GISELLE: REMIX | ★★★★★ | April 2024
GWYNETH GOES SKIING | ★★★ | February 2024
CASTING THE RUNES | ★★★ | October 2023
DIANA: THE UNTOLD AND UNTRUE STORY | ★★★★ | November 2022
DIRTY CORSET | ★★½ | April 2022
SHE SEEKS OUT WOOL | ★★★★ | January 2022
DOG SHOW | ★★★★★ | December 2021

16 POSTCODES

16 POSTCODES

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Brexit – 5 Stars

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Brexit

Brexit

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 1st November 2018

★★★★★

“a true ‘play for today,’ rooted in current political reality, spiced with delicious humour, razor sharp with insight and sparkling wit”

 

This satirical and hilarious look at the Brexit dilemma, two years on, is superb. It’s 2020 and a newly elected Prime Minister is taking the helm, attempting to steer the country through the convoluted Brexit morass. Nothing has happened since 2018, how will he manage to keep everyone, or even anyone, happy? It’s like a sitcom for the stage, with echos of ‘2012’, and ‘Yes Minister’, but far more biting and to the point. The Prime Minister, Adam Masters, is brilliantly played by Timothy Bentinck, better known for his many tv roles, and for being the voice of David Archer in ‘The Archers.’ His self-important, doubt ridden PM is a fantastic study of a Tory in trouble, trying to balance the different factions of his fractured party, and deliver something. Anything really. And to stay in office for longer than Andrew Bonar Law’s two hundred and eleven days.

There are some brilliant one liners, ‘You may have a triple first in sycophancy and beef wellington but that doesn’t give you the right….’ says Pippa Evans’ Diana Purdy, a ‘soft Brexit Tory,’ to Thom Tuck’s horribly oily, Rees Mogg like Simon Cavendish. Diana again, this time to the PM, ‘You can’t continue to govern over Schrodinger’s Brexit.’ Evans and Tuck are on opposing sides of the hard/soft Brexit divide, could they work together? Ultimately it’s all about power. And the man behind the power of the Prime Minister, and his election, is Campaign Manager and Chief Political Advisor, Paul Connell. Adam Astill plays him beautifully as a put upon, hard working power broker, who would prefer to stay on the sidelines. The Machiavellian power behind the throne. The final character is Lucy Montgomery’s, effortlessly in control, Helena Brandt, the chief EU negotiator. She is the epitome of elegance and understated power, that word again. The cast don’t put a foot wrong.

This play is much more than the one liners. The writing is pitch perfect. The creative team of Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky have given us a true ‘play for today,’ rooted in current political reality, spiced with delicious humour, razor sharp with insight and sparkling wit. Salinsky also directs, using the simple set with an economy that works really well. Credit must also go to Nicholas Holdridge and Jamie Robertson for the lighting, music and sound design.

If you can get a ticket do go and see this. It’s well worth it, and it’s a relief to actually be able to laugh when Brexit is mentioned, rather than sigh with despair!

 

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by Steve Ullathorne

 

kings head theatre

Brexit

King’s Head Theatre until 17th November

 

 

 

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