The Tobacco Tea Theatre Company’s latest offering is a tale of highwaymen, political subterfuge and morality. Mixing their metaphors as well as their inspiration, the company tackle a plot that involves the deeds to a Pacific spice island, an attempt to steal a taxidermy lobster and an exploration into corruption 1736 style.
During the sixty minutes of action packed adventure we meet a variety of characters, some of whom are firmly rooted in the world of Dick Turpin and others whose antecedents lie most assuredly elsewhere.
There are a number of counterpoints during the show, ranging from a sharpshooter straight from a Sergio Leone spaghetti western to highwaymen and women on board hobby horses set against a Quentin Tarrantino-esque soundtrack. This does keep the audience guessing at what will happen next, which is no bad thing. The story romps along with a gay abandon that never loses pace and there is always something or someone interesting around the next corner. Christopher Cutting’s script was bouncy and alert throughout.
There are other diametrically opposed elements that don’t work so well. The principal villain of the piece, the Chief Justice Augustus Standing is commandingly played by the excellent and versatile Joey Bartram. Similarly the highwayman Robert Steel has an authentic back story and is played with credibility and charm by Ashley Shires while the impressive Jasmine Horn handles the role of apprentice Highway woman Evelyn Bugg with an easy going insouciance mixed with a slight hint of sexual frisson. These parts are all played straight and the fun is introduced by well-crafted fight sequences, slow motion actions and well-choreographed set pieces set against a rockabilly or 1980s back catalogue. They jar however when contrasted with the more high camp over acting presented by the comically gifted Gabriel Burke’s Horace Bluster and Lily Garbutt’s ghastly Cecilia Bluster and Lady Cheltenham. The disparity between the characters is too great to allow Stand and Deliver to flow organically. This is exacerbated by a plot that is slightly messier than probably intended and the over-explained political shenanigans contrived by the baddies.
There is much comic violence of the Blackadder variety and the occasional lapse into contemporary vernacular profanity which is part of the fine tradition of fringe theatre, but the piece lacks a more outright outrageousness or overt political message to fully convince. There are some lovely moments of the absurd, particularly around the iconic lobster and its place in the highwayman Robert Steel’s upbringing which delight. There were also hints of political satire with a well camouflaged reference to Brexit, but these references were too fleeting and along with a cutting wit are too well hidden.
The company work well together handling multiple parts with aplomb that comes from a careful attention to stagecraft and continuity.
This is an entertaining romp that will appeal to those that love their theatre laced with a healthy dose of surrealism and the absurd. It certainly stands on its own two feet, but doesn’t quite deliver all the goods. ★★★☆☆ Bryan Mason 11th April 2018
