Southwark Playhouse Borough – until 17 May 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
This silly but loving comedy set on a tube train is a very London centric production. Pulling out all the stops, there’s a spoof version of the freesheets that litter every carriage on the TfL network, The Retro, as a programme, while an actor in TfL gear with a loudspeaker marches around the bar preshow making mock announcements – “Mind the gap between this performance and your expectations” was a winner! The preshow playlist is a big hit, with many audience members singing along to classics about London. Obviously, The Jam’s Going Underground HAD to be played.
Hamish Clayton and Tom Woffenden’s story centres around two strangers getting on the train at Heathrow and riding the entire line to Cockfosters. James (Sam Rees-Baylis) has returned from a solo trip to Venice after splitting from his girlfriend and his luggage has gone missing. Tori (Beth Lilly) has been at a yoga retreat in Mexico after having a self-declared quarter-life crisis. A few awkward comments and silences soon become a full-blown conversation as the couple bond on their journey. Tori’s grandfather worked with the man who designed the tube map and she has a mysterious connection with the Underground but that secret unfortunately died with her grandfather.
Hamish Clayton directs with great energy and what follows is a random collection of sketches as instantly recognisable characters and caricatures enter and alight the carriage. (A fantastic realistic set designed by Gareth Rowntree – but thankfully without the smell.) Jimmy Bryant, Liam Horrigan, Natasha Vasandani and Emily Waters play American tourists confused by pronunciations and quirks in design, a woman who has an existential crisis when she is offered a seat, a family of Arsenal fans and, for some reason, the grim reaper. Most of these scenes are very funny, but others could be trimmed or cut altogether. The musical numbers are more consistent, with a raucous hen party, a busker who has a song mentioning every station on the network, and a rap battle to determine whether North, South, East or West London is best. The latter drew the biggest laughs, gasps and cheers of the night as insults were hurled. This is one of the shows weaknesses, as it speaks very loudly to the tribalism of Londoners and their love/hate relationship with the tube, but none of this would consistently elicit big laughs outside of London.
The development of Tori and James’s relationship is sweet, and there is a kind of resolution to her mystery, which was signalled very heavily throughout. The cast are a hoot, with Lilly and Rees-Baylis the quieter calm spot and anchor as the cast clown around them. The energy is undeniable and there are many very funny moments but the swift changes of tone are non-stop and the tender ending gets a little lost after the relentless parade of over-the-top silliness.
Cockfosters is like the TfL’s Sunday service – a little hit and miss. But if you are looking for 70 minutes of fun and nonsense with a super cast, this is the show for you.