Skip to main content

Review of Breeders at the St. James Theatre, London

It is fair to say that there are a good few moments of very surreal happenings in Ben Ockrent's new play about lesbians, brothers and sisters and babies. Whether the cast are wearing odd costumes, getting into antics with flour or maybe even more oddly singing Swedish language eighties classics. The last of which is used rather cleverly to develop the set, but to be honest while it is an interesting way of doing this. It is more funny peculiar than funny ha ha, with the possible exeption of Jemima Rooper's redition of the Bonnie Taylor classic Total Eclipse Of The Heart. This truly is a funny moment and one which the audience on the night went wild for.

The play tells the story of a lesbian couple and their desire to have a baby. The complication comes from one of the couple, Andrea's (Tamzin Outhwaite) desire to keep the genetics of her family, resulting in her request to her brother Jimmy (Nicholas Burns) for his sperm to impregnate her wife Caroline (Angela Griffin). Throw into the confusion Jimmy's partner Sharon (Jemima Rooper) and you have the material for two hours of friction, fun and a little near the knuckle comedy.

Its fair to say from the outset that this is an entertaining and comical little play with a sprinkling of social comment. While some of the comedy can be a little based on the overplaying acting variety, there are some extremely funny one liners on offer. Among them some excruciatingly awkward ones featuring the situation of a brother masturbating on behalf of his sister and without doubt the funniest flour joke I have ever heard and possibly may ever hear.

I think what sells the play more as a comedy are the performances which are invariably superb. Outhwaite is a superb demonic self-centred monster that oddly you can't help but like. It is also a delight to hear that most wonderful of voices live. While as her wife, Griffin is the sane part of the couple, although sane in this play still represents slightly bonkers. Rooper is delightfully fun and has yet another of those wonderfully delicious voices that delight the ear. She also has a lovely stage presence and acts well above her diminutive size. She has the character I think that you have to feel sympathetic to the most. It is also quite refreshing in a play with three ladies and two of them lesbian characters for Rooper to not be one of them, as to me she always seems to be cast as one. Burns as the sole male character is an absolute delight and is at his comical best during those cringes and faces of abject discomfort when the painful descriptions of how all these baby making things work.

The set design by James Perkins is also very clever, allowing for development throughout (via that Swedish singing) and over time it creates the home that they are trying to create.

Overall a delightful little play which features four fine actors working their socks off and it finishes oddly given how it ends, very satisfactorily.

Rating 3.5/5 - A bonny little baby of a play.


Performance reviewed: Thursday 11th September, 2014 at the St. James Theatre, London.

Breeders runs at St. James Theatre, London until Saturday 4th October, 2014.
Details here: http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/events/breeders/

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Breaking the Code at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Breaking The Code , the opening play in the new Made in Northampton season at Royal & Derngate, is a surprisingly old and rarely seen play. Written in 1986 by Hugh Whitemore, it tells the story of legendary codebreaker Alan Turing, a man who, in the 1980s, when this play first appeared, was relatively unknown. The years since the origin of this play have been good for Turing, with his life's work finally getting the recognition it deserves, and also, very much what this play centres on, a recognition of the horrific life and end that Turing had as a result of dealing with the laws of the day. Breaking the Code has seen life before on the stage of the Royal, as back in 2003, Philip Franks took to the role of Turing in a very well-received production. So, what of this brand new version directed by the Royal & Derngate's artistic director Jesse Jones? Does it live up to Turing's legend? That is an unquestionable yes with no machines needed to crack the class behind thi...

Review of National Theatre Connections 2017 (16 Shows) at Royal & Derngate (Royal & Underground), Northampton

Alongside the University of Northampton BA Actors Flash Festival, the Connections festival at Royal & Derngate is now my joint favourite week of theatre each year. This is my fourth year at the festival and each time I have tried my very best (and succeeded) in seeing more and more of those on offer (four in 2014, ten in 2015 and twelve last year). This year I cracked sixteen shows, including the most interesting, a chance to see two of the plays by three different groups. I was able to see nine of this year's ten plays (a single nagging one, Musical Differences by Robin French was missing from the R&D line-up), and most I either enjoyed or finally understood their merits or reasons for inclusion. The writing of sixteen reviews is a little bit of an daunting prospect, however, I will do my best to review each of the plays and those I saw more than once, and pick around the comparisons. Extremism by Anders Lustgarten Performed by Bedford College Extremism was perfo...

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...