Park Theatre – until 11th August
Reviewed By Adam Craddock
6 Stars!!! (Yes, 6!)
In the week of Donald Trump’s visit to the UK and the looming Brexit negotiations, End of the Pier’s darkly comic take on modern Britain’s attitudes to immigration and race punches exactly at the deep lying sore points that we all have and need to be addressed. Following Bobby, a 1970’s music hall style comedian, and his son Michael, a modern comedian trying to get away from his father’s dark legacy, End of the Pier really gets in to the psychology of why some people are racist and just what lengths they will go to to feel this superiority over their peers.
Les Dennis, in the role of Bobby, was absolutely phenomenal. With impeccable comic timing throughout that had the audience rolling around in stitches at his one liners and physical gags, this was a Dennis performance that matched any of his best for comedy that I have seen. However, what I was not expecting was just how well he can handle the dark and gritty material too and have us all in shock when he finally snapped with his son. Tala Gouveia was fabulous as Jenna, delivering a real gut punch with her monologue to Bobby and showing just how much a simple “bit of banter” can affect someone’s life. Nitin Ganatra was hilarious as Mohammed, playing with racial stereotypes brilliantly and showing that just because of the colour of someone’s skin, or where they are from, that doesn’t mean they are any different than you, and who knows… they could be even better than you. However, my absolute highlight of the night was Blake Harrison as Michael. After seeing him in so many comedic roles before I thought this was just going to be another standard laugh along character, but how wrong I was. Showing a man at odds with himself and trying to supress his dark side, Harrison was absolutely phenomenal in showing a man’s life spiral apart right before his very eyes and, in one last cruel twist of fate, he delivered a desperate punt that not only wrecked his own life, but all the others around him. This performance was quite frankly one of the single best acting performances that I have ever seen.
Danny Robins’ new show is a once in a lifetime piece, a show that you simply can not pick fault with. From it’s superb directing, flawless cast and deeply psychological plot, this may be that famed anomaly… The perfect show. My only thing to say to you is this: Get to End of the Pier while you can because this will soon be the hottest ticket in town.