OLD shipmates gather in a grubby club bar following the funeral of their former captain and start squabbling. We are in familiar Scouse territory in this new play by comedians Stanley McHale and Keith Carter as the wisecracks and insults come thick and fast.
But then it goes off on a theatrical voyage all of its own as the sailors agree to board their old ship, the Sampson, which just happens to have arrived in dock on the way to the breaker’s yard.
The writers certainly fill the evening with plot – this is not a mere excuse for easy laughs. There is serious illness, guns, devious schemes, marital rifts, business failures and even a sex toy party with rather-too-real vibrator.
Somehow they manage to shoehorn all the strands into a play that moves along merrily.
This production from First Break Productions – so named for giving people a break into theatre, in this case the writers and some backstage crew – has a makeshift look to it with obvious budget deficiencies.
It was not helped last night by the sudden hospitalisation of one of the leading actors Sean McKee, which saw producer Paul Nicholson taking over the part of the dead captain’s son clutching a script and without benefit of a rehearsal. It meant a loss of pace in the production directed by Sylvie Gatrill and awkward silences. But we got a pretty good impression of a comedy-drama which needs some work on it but which has the makings of another feisty Liverpool comedy.
Roy Brandon and Lindzi Germain made a good Comic Cuts couple (she braying, he hen-pecked) and James McMartin was a fine tough guy while others gave variable support.
Despite the writers, there is as much drama as comedy in the show – although a sudden death at the final curtain seemed rather peculiar.
