![](https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/279740003_3234850736789828_374123646132339345_n.jpg)
Show: Black Comedy
Society: Playing Up Theatre Company
Venue: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street, Bath,
Credits: Peter Shaffer
Type: Sardines
Performance Date: 03/05/2022
Black Comedy
If you do only one thing this week, then go to The Mission Theatre, Bath to see Playing Up Theatre Company’s production of Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy. Your funny bone can thank me later.
Written in 1965 in response to a commission by Kenneth Tynan, this play has been on my must-see list for far too long, so an invitation to review was not to be resisted. It was well worth the journey not only to see an enjoyable production of a much-loved classic, but also to experience the charms of a bijou theatre staffed by people who are clearly passionate about delivering quality drama.
Set in the round, there was attention to detail in a complex set; a London flat furnished in 1960s style, down to the Dansette record player and the kitsch drinks’ trolley, with our eyes ever drawn to the avant-garde sculpture, the focal point of the piece. Costumes likewise reflected the era as well as being appropriate to the characters.
While not a classic Cooney or Chapman farce, the play has many of these features; characters who turn up at inconvenient times or inadvertently give the game away, and a protagonist who has to keep ahead of the game while we enjoy his discomfort and ingenuity in trying to solve problems of his own making. What sets it apart from other farces is the slick script. Here the cast excelled in not wasting a single line; from Schuppanzigh’s “orgasm of opposites” to Harold’s “damp panties” and every “dumpling” in between, it perfectly embodied the newly permissive society clashing with established mores.
The convention of light being dark and dark being light was effectively maintained as we saw the protagonist desperately trying to keep his guests in the dark, literally and metaphorically. The direction by Darian Nelson was slick and we watched the actors moving realistically in the “dark” as they fumbled and groped about in comedic fashion. Not once did any of them have direct eye contact with each other and they maintained character during all the slapstick and pratfalls. The space was used well, including a clever conceit to represent going upstairs to the bedroom.
I don’t want to single out any particular performer because they all worked together as a tight unit with well-defined characterisation, but I must give an honourable mention to Richard Chivers as Brindsley, simply for being the driving character of the physical comedy. Watching his facial expressions and his descent into dishevelment was an absolute joy.
I had a few tiny points which left the show just short of perfection. I would have likes Carol’s hair to be more 1960s debutante in style, it would have been good to see Bamberger instead of him being a voice off-stage, and I know that the trapdoor effect is not possible in many small theatres but is adjusted for in the script. Nevertheless, these are minor carps in what was a thoroughly enjoyable evening which delighted the small, but perfectly formed audience for the entire performance.
Posters around the theatre show that it has a history of putting on a wide variety of challenging plays. I recommend you check out their website as there are more great productions ahead. This was my first visit to the Mission Theatre, but it will not be my last.