Review: THIS IS NOT RIGHT, Wilton's Music Hall

Holly (Martha Godber) is a talented girl who lives on a Council estate in Hull with her Dad (Jamie Smelt). Her mum left them when she was ten and nothing's ever been the same. When she goes off to London to attend university, she has to come to terms with her protective father and a life that's not exactly what she'd dreamed it would be. John Godber's This is not Right has been rewritten for its current run at Wilton's Music Hall, but feels like it's majorly out of focus and only comes together, unjustifiably, in its last ten minutes.

Class stereotyping permeates the piece from the very start and never rises above it. The differences between north and south as well as between London and Hull are far from being placed delicately on stage, which would work if the play was actually making that specific point but doesn't achieve anything of the likes in this production as it appears that it's about missing women - among other things like the financial strain of the working class in a decaying economy and the hatred for northern small-mindedness.

Allusions to Dad's obsession with losing Holly in all possible ways are scattered briefly and vaguely from the outset textually, but the direction buries them underneath scenes that beat around the bush too much and fail to create tension. This leads the material to build a languid and washed-out piece of theatre that borders the obnoxious. The core issue might be that the writing tries to tackle too many topics in order to make a social statement, blurring the plotline too much to be satisfying.

The rewrite sees some very cute references to Wilton's and its neighbourhood that, however, are slightly useless in the grand scheme of things. The lack of fourth wall and direct address to the audience could have made This is not Right a personal and touching play, but these sentiments are lost throughout. Godber's journey to portray Holly and her endeavours to fit in and survive almost follows the same trajectory as the show itself, only becoming multi-faceted towards the very end.

Smelt is, however, brilliant. From Dad's rocky relationship with his daughter to the underlying sweet yet problematic tones of his protective nature, he attempts to save a performance that otherwise might have fallen completely flat due to a weak direction. The identity crisis brought on by the assemblage of topics and the shortcomings of rhythm and pace regrettably don't get along and narrow the show down to a boring story about a bratty young woman and her apprehensive simpleton dad.

This is not Right runs at Wilton's Music Hall until 5 October.

Photo credit: John Godber Company

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