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Sympathy with the devils
SIMPATICO
Old Red Lion
SOME people can’t let bygones be bygones.
For 11 years Vinnie has been harbouring intense resentment of his childhood chum and one-time criminal partner, Carter.
The racing scam the pair pulled off was a roaring success, especially for Carter.
Not only did he gain wealth, he gained a woman (Vinnie’s ex-wife), eloping with her in a car he stole from Vinnie.
Understandably, this led to ill feeling between the pair. Unfortunately for Carter, Vinnie kept compromising evidence and now has his heart set on revenge.
Vinnie is such an interesting character that it is tempting to devote this entire review to him.
An absurdly sensitive, self-pitying mastermind, his neurosis borders on the Woody Allen-esque.
He is brilliantly played by stand-up comedian Phil Nichol, who twitches with paranoia and nervously scratches his beard at appropriate moments.
True, the material was good to begin with. Sam Shepard’s darkly comedic script is as one would expect from a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
However, it is matched by the overall slickness of this production and some fine acting.
This is an emphatically psychological thriller. Obsessive Vinnie and guilt-ridden Carter are less than simpatico, but innocence is personified in Cecilia (Trudi Jackson), a dappy sales clerk who is reluctantly drawn into the intrigue.
Encouraged by Carter, Cecilia visits Simms, a bloodstock agent with a hidden past.
When Simms tells Cecilia how much her favourite racing horse’s heart weighed, Cecilia exclaims: “They cut his heart out! How could they?”
“Treachery,” is the reply, “pure and simple.”
Treachery, as this play shows, is something human beings can inflict on one another, not just on racing horses.
Until January 31
020 7837 7816 |
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