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The Underpants don’t let you breathe for a second
UNDERPANTS
Old Red Lion
LAST night I was in the Old Red Lion and I saw something wonderful. Like the characters in the play it was The Underpants.
Carl Sternheim’s 1910 comedy has been lovingly adapted by Steve Martin, and after seeing this current incarnation it seems that he was indeed the man for the job.
Wonderful may be a little bit strong, but only a little. Martin obviously has a passion for the material, skilfully recreating the times and traditions and sharing Sternheim’s penchant for smut, innuendo and beautifully played one-liners.
All these come at a pace that never lets the audience breathe for more than a second or two. This is down to the direction and performance as much as it is Martin’s or Sternheim’s writing.
The direction, which could have played up the more farcical elements, chooses instead to focus on the characters and their desires.
This is a wise choice that gives the play a more human face and allows the words to breathe.
The slightly bland and unenergetic turn from Dolly Wells as the wearer of the titular underpants doesn’t hinder the pace that much but fails to provide the play with a particularly strong centre for the action to revolve around.
That said the other actors pick up the slack with ease, Michael Jayes and Owen Brennan shining as a suitor and husband respectively.
And aside from the usual and, it has to be said, barely noticeable first-night problems of a dropped line here and there it bodes very well for the coming performances.
Until Nov 18
020 7837 7816
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