Good idea ends all up in the air

This is your Captain Speaking
Pentameters Theatre
Anna Brooks-Gallerani

BILLED as a “fantastically farcical comedy,” Sylvester Stein’s This is Your Captain Speaking is a radical departure from his acclaimed work on media censorship in apartheid-era South Africa.
A noisy Heathrow flight path provides the backdrop to this satire about male angst and political activism.
Henry Dunn gives a strong lead as neurotic father Willy, driven to distraction by noise pollution and rivalry with his son Nick.
Competing for the affection of news-hungry TV journalist Liz, who is making a programme about Willy’s career, the father and son end up kidnapping British Airport Authority chief Lord Nobby in a drunken bid to force Heathrow to stop flights over West London.
With this fittingly absurd set-up and some well-scripted repartee, it gets off to a promising start. But sadly, Stein and co-author Robert Troop fail to capitalise on its potential in the second half, letting the plot go haywire and the dialogue go off the boil.
With airport expansion and direct protest as its themes, there was scope to pack some political punches, but the script fails to deliver.
Morgan Val Baker was two-dimensional as Nick, but for the most part, the cast deserve credit for making the best of a weak script.
Retired civil servant Ted Pleasance, who has a real stage presence, made a convincing fat cat as Lord Nobby.
Henry Dunn effectively conjured up Willy’s mid-life crisis, brought into stark relief by Lord Nobby’s arrogance, and Beth Aynsley held her own as coquettish Liz.
The mostly strong cast meant that this still succeeded in raising some laughs, but fans of Steinberg’s Who Killed Mr Drum? may find themselves disappointed.

020 7435 3648
Until July 31

click here to book theatre tickets