Review Theatre: Erect | Hen and Chickens | Prepare to smile, titter and fall off your chair. This clever play about two successful but bored and disillusioned architects is very, very funny.

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The Review - THEATRE by ROXANNE BLAKELOCK
Published: 21 August 2008

Working out a design for strife

REVIEW: ERECT
Hen and Chickens

PREPARE to smile, titter and fall off your chair.
This clever play about two successful but bored and disillusioned architects is very, very funny.
Uma Carlisle-Longton and Andrew Alexander are married and bitter. They try to spice up their existence by taking on a naïve work experience boy, Ben, who falls for their tricks painfully easily. Uma woos Ben, who believes every word she says. She leads him to believe Andrew is a monster, and convinces Ben to kill him.
Andrew plays his part in the game and confuses Ben with another version of reality. The couple both abuse their power and continually use sex as a weapon, in the claustrophobic setting of just one room – the couple’s studio.
Gabby Best is particularly impressive in her role as Uma. She strikes a perfect balance between the naturalistic and the theatrical.
Diarmid Thackery provides a beautiful portrayal as the bewildered and innocent, yet passionate, Ben, while Ioannis Balaskas, who wrote the play, gives a memorable performance as the overbearing, self-involved Andrew.
Andrew and Uma both lecture at Sheffield University, which supplies plenty of material for social commentary.
The script is fast moving, packed with plays on words and puns and comic imagery, as well as a biting twist at the end.
However, most of the humour stems from the impeccable comic timing of this outstanding cast and their interactions.
Balaskas has proved himself here as an extremely talented writer.
Let’s hope we see more from him before long.
Until September 6
020 7704 2001

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