Review: I DIDN'T WANT THIS. I JUST WANTED YOU, Hen And Chickens

The United States of America: Land of the free, home of the brave but also home to filthy rich lottery winners and their subsequent tragic squanderings. It's summer 1997 in Texas. Billie Bob Harrell Jr. breaks his back working at Home Depot and plays the lottery at least twice a week, never winning anything. Until he bags the $31 million Texas Lotto jackpot, as actually happened.

All of a sudden, Billie Bob is the most popular man in the American South. He gets invited to appear on talk shows and everyone is his friend. The money, however, quickly destroys his family and his life, leading to a tragic ending.

These real events make for a good rags-to-riches story, and Unmarked Theatre has decided to turn it into an explosive musical titled I didn't want this. I just wanted you. It's directed by Aaron-Lee Eyles and devised by the company, with Rob Hardie as composer. At this stage, the show, seen recently for a single performance at the Hen and Chickens, is on the right path toward something bigger but is not quite there yet.

Besides opting for a less wordy title, the pocket-sized piece would benefit from more cohesiveness so as to fulfil whatever loftier ambitions it might have. The beginning is a fiery movement-led display of organised chaos. Luke Palmer, Harriet O'Grady, Grace Price, and Thomas Crichton deliver the main character's origin story before diving into the nitty gritty money-related bits.

They transform their bodies into conveyor belts and forklifts blazing through what might as well be an establishing shot of Billie Bob's life before his hefty win. After three notably catchy songs the music takes a step back and the show shifts to the spoken word for quite a while given the hour-long runtime.

The result feels like two different shows: the over-the-top musical comedy of the start and the dramatic straight play of the middle chunk prior to another musical interlude. By the end, we lose the initial narrative device: O'Grady's lawyer suddenly stops telling the audience her client's tale only then to pick it back up at the very end.

While the cast - headed by Luke Palmer as Billie Bob - are all brilliant in their collection of characters, Crichton steals the show at any given opportunity. From quick changes as Billie Bob's children to the only hilarious conveyor belt in London's theatre scene, he is outstanding.

This still might be a small show built with very little means, but all the ingredients are there to enlarge it. Now if only that title were a little catchier .....

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