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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...

Batter up: Jam @Finborough


No doubt there are days when teachers just wish they had a baseball bat to put a little bit of distance between themselves and their students.

In Jam by Matt Parvin, teacher Bella Soroush is lucky enough to do just that. It's currently playing at the Finborough Theatre.

The premise in this two-hander is that ex-pupil Kane ruined Bella Soroush's life. Something happened and so she moved schools, moved towns and got on with her life. But now Kane has tracked her down and claims they have unfinished business.


With all this potential for malevolence, you never get a sense of any real peril facing either character.  An uneasy soundtrack underscores the proceedings, but as the piece wears on it's hard to understand where the drama is.

One of Kane's past atrocities amounted to bringing a smelly cheese board to school. And Bella doesn't like smelly cheese. At this point you could be forgiven for thinking Bella is a touch neurotic.

There isn't much time to explore why British school standards lag behind many other developed countries. Nor does it equip the nation for the skills it needs given its heavy reliance on immigrants (at least for now). Perhaps the answer lies in the pointless discussions that take place here.

But even if the story doesn't add up to much Jasmine Hyde as Bella and Harry Melling as Kane are terrific to watch.

Melling's Kane is a bit of a man-child. Alternating between stand over man and schoolboy, you get the sense he realises the best years of his life (being at school causing trouble) are behind him.

Hyde is a revelation as she shifts from being a victim to being yet another teacher with dubious motives for entering the profession.

Directed by Tommo Fowler, Jam is at Finborough Theatre until 17 June.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎



Photos by Matthew Foster


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