Review: BIRTHDAY SUIT, Old Red Lion Theatre

New girl in the office, Diane, worries about being able to make small talk with her new colleagues at Richard's 40th birthday party. He's an accountant and a bit awkward, the guy who's not in with the in-crowd, but he's ever so eager to please.

Diane's boyfriend, Nick, works in Tesco. She wants him to make the right impression to get a foothold in the firm, but Nick isn't too good at that sort of thing, especially with a drink inside him and Richard in a tuxedo. So far, so, well, not so good, but it happens. Then Richard's wife, Valerie, turns up, recognises Diane from an old Facebook photo somewhere and all hell breaks loose.

David K Barnes's new comedy has echoes of Abigail's Party and a touch of Ayckbourn too - but, if you're going to have obvious inspirations, they aren't bad ones are they? The laughs come thick and fast and, if I might suggest a few cuts would tighten the writing even further, the gag-a-minute ratio is fine as it is. What a delight it is to see a play, an unabashed comedy to boot, set in London in 2017.

Casting is critical in fringe comedy - we're trapped in the small space as much as the characters are in Richard's Canary Wharf flat, so we can't just point and giggle for two hours; the actors have to make rounded human beings from these misfits, with the light and shade people, rather than cardboard cutouts, possess. Barnes's script passes this crucial test with flying colours.

Liam Bewley maintains a rictus smile as host Richard, so wanting things to go well, but about as successful in promoting a party atmosphere as he is in opening a particularly uncooperative tin of Quality Street - hey, we've all been there mate. Ej Martin cleverly plots Diane's descent as her life crumbles around her, the booze loosening her tongue - in vino veritas and all that.

Philip Honeywell may be all sly asides initially, and we do feel for him, dragged along to a party he doesn't want to attend, but Nick soon curdles his lack of self-esteem into full blown arseholery as his bitterness overrides even his underwear fetish.

Stealing the show (and it is an absolute delight to see so strong and funny a female character on stage) Emily Stride is sensational as Valerie. Coming straight out of the top righthand corner of the Hot-Crazy Matrix, Valerie is cruel and funny, but, as we learn, damaged too, as confined as Diane and Richard in their business-driven rat race by her frustrated dreams. It's a nuanced performance of a complex character and I found myself wanting to know what happened next for Valerie - a sure sign of a successful piece of writing and acting.

As ever with comedy, you have to buy into its conceits and (maybe), have a drink in the downstairs pub to oil the laughing muscles, but I hadn't and I still laughed plenty. It's good stuff and, with 15 minutes cut from the slightly slow first half, could be better still. David K Barnes is a name to watch.

Birthday Suit continues at The Old Red Lion Theatre until 4 February.

Photo Mathew Foster

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