15th  July

Created by the Bath-based Naked Heart theatre company, Venom offers an unpretentious 70 minutes of fun. Performed on a bare stage by a cast of three, and featuring very few props, this is bargain basement theatre and none the worse for that. Ostensibly presenting a tale of derring-do, featuring intrepid scientists facing terrifying dangers as they seek to find the antidote to a deadly snake bite, this Boys Own plot is merely an excuse to present a range of daft characters, some knockabout comedy and, above all, a great deal of wordplay. Writer Johnny Ashman cannot resist the temptation to inject a pun or two into every bit of dialogue. Some of these are freshly minted, while others are old friends that can be spotted coming a mile away. Last night’s audience appeared to enjoy the familiar groan-inducing ones every bit as much as those that took them by surprise. I particularly enjoyed the convoluted pun that turns the opening line of Richard III into an advert for off-season, cut-price camping equipment: ‘Now is the winter of our… .’ See if you can guess the rest.

Robert Collard and Samuel Rawlings play the adventurous pair who risk all in their efforts to save the life of a snake-bitten colleague. The aforementioned Johnny Ashman plays everyone else, relying on an impressive range of accents and rapid costume changes. These three actors clearly love what they do, and their evident sense of enjoyment is infectious. But the relentless, quick-fire bantering that dominates the dialogue inevitably prevents them from having the space in which to create much interest in the characters they portray, who remain as cartoonish cut-outs. Fair enough, one might think, in a show that aims to offer a laugh-a-minute, but I found the frantic pace of it all just a little wearying.

It is very much to the credit of all involved and their allegiance to the old theatre maxim ‘the show must go on’ that Venom has arrived at The Alma, for this production was plagued by Covid-related problems, and rehearsals were often conducted online. There was warm applause at the end of last night’s show, and it was well deserved.

★★★☆☆  Mike Whitton,  16th July 2022