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Drug drama isn’t a trip to remember
CHARLIE AND HENRY
New End Theatre
PETER Maddock, the author of this new play about drugs and debauchery among the upper classes, knows a thing or two about his subject matter.
As a showbiz lawyer in the 1960s he mingled with rock stars, lords and actresses and, less glamorously, spent more than three years in a US prison for smuggling half a dozen kilos of cocaine through JFK airport.
His play follows two delirious days in the lives of socialite twins Charlie and Henrietta and their drug-addled friends and hangers-on, caught up in a world of cocaine smuggling, gangsters and increasing paranoia.
Mr Maddock clearly hasn’t lost his connections over the years. Kevin Wallace, producer of the most expensive musical ever made, The Lord of the Rings, produced the play, and West End director Robert Carson agreed to direct.
Strangely, neither of these two big names are on the programme, but they have clearly left their mark. The pacing is snappy, the “sloane ranger” pad set is well designed and the production plays expertly for laughs.
The cast of bright young things are uniformly solid. Gregory Finnegan and Sophia Dawnay are particularly sharp as the aristo twins on the road to ruin and Jacqueline Wood nearly steals the show as the detoxing, narcissistic actress Cara; all muscle and nervous energy.
Ultimately, however, ‘Charlie and Henry’ is a play about loveless, mildly unpleasant and self-obsessed people who it is very difficult to care about. So while it generates a few laughs, it, like the aristos’ drugs, is a short-lived buzz.
Until May 27.
0870 033 2733 |
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Your Comments:
I had a great time at the play. I laughed & laughed. The writing,
acting & directing were first rate. It may not be a play for everyone. But
more interesting that most of the productions running in the West End at the
moment.
Tom Cashin
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