Stoppard’s words fly around, they are funny and caustic, the actors obviously enjoy speaking them, even if the sentences are often more than a mouthful, the set piece speeches are entertaining and irritating, clever, deep and shallow and it’s all very showy and apparently entertaining on one level, out came that cricket bat, but I was stumped.
In ‘Timber’, a hunky third-wheel bachelor goes on a quiet hike in his solitude after his paired up friends disturb his sleep by having endless early morning sex in the campgrounds. After completely losing his way in a slightly magical forest, he meets an uncannily-masculine threesome of lumberjacks who are very friendly, very touchy smiley and then take him to their cabin for rescue of a different kind and reveal their true, devastatingly hot natures in bed!
There was hefty representation from the gay composers tonight and the spread of their works balanced the simple but strong lyricism of the first half, with a wonderfully witty encore of a James Fenton poem offered up with panache. This was an evening of quality, musical excellence and pure vocal joy which showcased her command of the communicative power of lieder.
The play begins straight into the action with this challenging in your face piece of fresh writing and superb acting. A classic bit of thrilling chilling fringe theatre.
