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Searching undeterred: The Gift @ParkTheatre

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I recently had a few parcels go missing from where I live. The first parcel disappeared without a trace. The second parcel's contents were removed, and the box was left alone in the lobby. It's one of the things that you have to put up with living in central London. Apart from complaining to the delivery company and filing a police report, it crossed my mind to think about what would happen if I sent myself something rather unpleasant for a future parcel thief to open up. Well, Dave Florez's new work, The Gift, is in this line of thinking, except that the lead receives an anonymous gift of a turd in the mail rather than sending it to himself. It is lovingly gift-wrapped in a cake box from a posh north London bakery. It's a fascinating and hilarious three-hander currently playing at Park Theatre .  Colin (Nicholas Burns) is a little obsessive at the best of times. He doesn't let things drop quickly and is obsessed with the details behind anything and everythi...

You're Never Fully Dressed: Beau Brummell An Elegant Madness @EuropeanArtsCo @jstheatre


No matter how stylish you might be in your heyday, in the end you'll end up a bit daft and alone in a bathtub. That seems to be the central message in Beau Brummell, an Elegant Madness. It's currently playing at Jermyn Street Theatre.

The man famous for creating an understated mens style - dark coats, full length trousers, white shirts, cravats - is now living in dubious quarters in Calais. He switches between dreaming of making up with his old friend the Prince of Wales (now George IV) and contemplating suicide.

The play opens with Brummell (Seán Brosnan) in a bathtub about to cut his throat. Or at least threatening to do so. His vallet (Richard Latham) rushes in and manages to take the blade away from him. But his long suffering valet is not quite suffering as you would expect. And so beings this two hander that is part history lesson about the man and a reflection of the times.


I was hoping for the banter to move up a notch a bit and take things a bit darker. Afterall, Brummell was confined to a madhouse riddled with syphilis by the time he died at the age of 61. But the piece feels a bit more like Waiting For Godot in the Georgian-era.

Still what keeps things engaging are the eccentric performances from Brosnan and Latham. Their banter and revelling in both squalor and the finer details of a shirt or coat makes the piece enjoyable. And you will be tempted to look up the history of the man later.

The ritual of dressing can still be a religious experience. Even if the cloth is riddled with stains. Perhaps that is the point of a cravat and waist coat.

Directed by Peter Craze and written by Ron Hutchinson, Beau Brummell - An Elegant Madness runs at Jermyn Street Theatre until 11 March. Do wear your finest. Even if it is in need of a clean.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎



Photo credit: Savannah Photographic.

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