15 October 2010 (gig)
16 October 2010
Not exactly one for the kiddies or thoise who are offended by language that the Queen might not approve of – however, this is a brilliant two hander exploring the tempestuous relationship between Ian Dury (played here by Mark White) and Fred ‘Spider’ Rowe (Josh Darcy) and if you can stand the bad language it is two hours very well spent.
The story begins with Spider Rowe coming round to Dury’s flat to demand an apology for slighting Rowe’s wife and from the first moment to the last the love/hate element of their relationship is clear as is Dury’s love of winding people up and testing their ‘Loyalty’ to the limits. The insults are as fruitay as you could imagine and their is some very clever use of the ‘C’ word that had most of the audience open-mouthed in shock and unable to stifle the guffaws that rang out. The dialogue feels natural and there is no sense of obscenity for its own sake – people really do talk like this.
Mark White is completely convincing as Dury – I met Dury a few times and the twinkle in his eye comes across brilliantly – and the monologues that lead you through his early years are chilling in their description of life in a ‘Special’ school and worse at Grammar. Josh Darcy plays Fred Rowe as a lot more than the cardboard cut-out that people tended to see him as although he does look a bit too much like Alexei Sayle to be completely convincing.
The songs are all you would expect - no-one has quite the voice that Ian Dury possessed – and serve to illustrate elements of the story well and the pacing is excellent – they cover a lot in two hours without skipping the important parts of these two lives together.
This is the sort of play that will be around for some time but it would be as well to see it soon because these two actors are very good together.
Altogether a fine entertainment.
