Review: THE GIFT, Park Theatre

An anonymous package arrives in Colin’s post, sending him into a spiral. Whether it’s a revenge plan gone wrong or a silly prank, what Colin (Nicholas Burns) receives in an unassuming cake box disturbs him out of his mind. His sister Lisa (Laura Haddock) and his Best Friend Brian (also Lisa’s boyfriend, Alex Price in the role) try to help.

Our imagination could have a field day as Colin unravels, but we're immediately told it's human excrement. There’s no time to wonder and guess what it might be or its significance. Dave Florez’s new is a bland poo-dunnit (a term gallantly offered by the dialogue itself) plagued with easy office humour. 

As a whole, the production is entertainment for the easily pleased that's at its most interesting when it strays from its core genre and dives into the siblings’ shared family trauma to reveal the unbreakable friendship bond that ties the trio together.

Its dire silliness and tired banter result in moments that are stretched out of their natural lifespan in the interest of reticent laughs. “What's the worst thing you've ever done?” Lisa asks his brother; a prolonged silence ensues. It's nothing unforgivable, so the search continues in what is, in essence, an extended episode of a random sitcom that lacks the pace of one.

There are a few good exchanges between Brian and Colin, but each role suffers from a shallow characterisation. Colin is the coarse grump, Lisa is the unhappy and dissatisfied token woman, Brian is the puerile best mate who's ready to go along with anything. Even with a script as meager as this one, Alex Price is the life of the piece and his Brian single-handedly saves it from utter disaster. While the text keeps coiling onto itself trying to make the emotionally constipated siblings its focal point, Price waltzes in with bonhomie and steals the show like a rug from under their feet.

His bemusing presence and unserious approach do what they can, but can't exactly perform any miracles. One too many uninspired scene changes stalls the rhythm, adding to the limitations of the material. The action develops inside Colin’s home, tastefully decorated in shades of greige. Lifelike and accurately practical, Sara Perks’s set is a highlight. The cabin pressure that might build in a one-room play is replaced by a severe lack of charge and no comic tension at all. Director Adam Meggido opts to block the scenes naturally most of the time, but, as the story grows, you'll realise that nobody really moves like that in a private space.

All in all, this is an overlong, lightweight comedy that would benefit from a trim and a rewrite. A tighter comic tempo might also save those jokes that linger too long (like when the two men have a rant over work email lingo while Lisa watches on, as bored as we are after a while).

It’s a shame that even those instances that should be comically grand ultimately fall flat, but it’s also difficult to pinpoint the reason they do. It’s not the gift it’s supposed to be. It's innocuous and inoffensive, but also unexciting and very boring.

The Gift runs at the Park Theatre until 1 March.

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