3 – 5 March
Anil Gupta and Sean Foley are mates, and a while back they shared a phone call. Anil announced he’d been appointed Creative Director of Comedy at Sky Studios, and Sean revealed he’d soon be Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep. Two new jobs with two people wanting to do something exciting; something different, to make their mark. A collaboration was dreamt up. This is the story that Anil and Sean shared when introducing the evening of Sky Comedy Rep’s short plays. I, for one, am very happy they had that phone call.
The idea is that 9 emerging comedy writers are developed and nurtured via the Rep and Sky Studios by established industry talents to produce short plays.
On Saturday there was a full working day of events to celebrate the new writing programme, where four plays were presented in the afternoon, food and drinks laid on in-between and then five more plays in the evening. (I did not see the first four plays, but if the later showing is anything to go by, they were great.) Everything was hosted by Birmingham’s own Darren Harriott, who did a tremendous job keeping us all laughing in the breaks.
The evening’s roster was made up of sweet, affecting family dramedy Pink Spaceship, written by Drew Vida Marke; Ryan Walker-Edwards’s Boys Who F*** And Cry, a boisterous, whipsmart play with incredible potential for further expansion/development (I’d watch a series, I’m saying); funny, real two-hander Sprint by Jodie Irvine; hilarious dating comedy of errors Mismatch by Ashfaq Gorsi; and the perfect closer: Spoffin by Mari and Lowri Izzard.
To compare them would imply a hierarchy of response, where each had strengths (and occasional weaknesses) and different audience members got more out of some than others. I enjoyed every single one. And the chuckles weren’t brainless, even if the characters sometimes acted so; these plays made me think, about difference and what binds us together.
That every play was singular in its perspective was the evening’s blessing. These scripts felt lived-in and specific in that peculiar way that always then transcends to become universal. We recognise family dynamics even if they’re apart from our own, we know friendship, we know the awkwardness of dating, we know the desire to prove ourselves and frustration of feeling like we’re falling short.
Saying all that, I do want to give particular praise to Spoffin, the most fully realised piece. Writers Mari and Lowri Izzard were also performing, which I suspect has a lot to do with how cogent it felt. A technical hitch (brilliantly handled) aside, it was sheer joy.
It was great to see a theatre so full: of bodies, laughter, mirth. Not every review in 2022 can come with an “after the 2 years we’ve had…” but it feels worthwhile here.
I hope that Sky Comedy Rep New Writing Programme runs for many years to come, and expect eventually we’ll see quite a few of these names returning not as members but as mentors.
★★★★☆ Will Amott 6th March
