WHILE THE REAL ONE RUNS….
With the Covid Inquiry surging along in a froth of accusations and curses and scandalous Whatsappery, it was hard to resist a hasty day-return to Harry Davies’ debut play at Chichester. It’s set around a judge-led inquiry into another health catastrophe: polluted water this time. And like the real one it is rife with deleted digital mail, personality clashes, private behaviours and vaulting ambition.
Especially it was worth it to see Deborah Findlay as the judge, and John Heffernan as the youngish Justice minister and Lord Chancellor, who used to be environment minister during the pollution crisis. Moreover, his mentor-donor-fixer and career ” fairy godmother” is his old pupilmaster, in the irresistible form of Malcolm Sinclair as Lord Patrick. He is a scene-stealingly tory-camp old silver fox in pale pink socks, who has no conscience whatsoever when it comes to dirty tricks and artful leaks to hostile journalists. Though not, it seems, to the friendlier-flirty profile writer, one of those girlish hair-flickers of the outer lobby. She – Shazia Nicholls giving it full faux-goofy-girly work as it is said some do – is the figure we first see fishing for private life series of the “bafflingly single” minister with his eye on the leadership.
So it’s one for Westminster bubblewatchers and Thick of It fans, though it aspires more in the direction of James Graham’s more humane portraits of the way real flawed people manoeuvre round procedures, policy debates, personalities and the sheer pressure of government. And Joanna Bowman’s production does begin most enjoyably, with Heffernan amid his aides displaying a masterful ability to project a spitefully sneering expression right up to the top gallery, alternating with scenes of Findlay and her legal colleague (who later has a bafflingly unnecessary scandal moment of his own). Her humanity, half hidden beneath a long varnished judicial dignity, is well caught.
But a structural problem is that these alternating scenes run too long , and it would.be more engaging if each was shorter, almost filmically flipping between the camps. It finally hits real tension with the wickedly amoral Lord Patrick – whose client is the water company – -planning some very dirty tricks to ruin the Judge and distract poilice and media from the minister’s sneaky involvement with the said firm. At which point the minister himself is starting to quail a little, grow a conscience.
So the second half is much better and faster, and – no spoilers – culminates in a classic emotional Victorian melodrama of identity and coincidence. Which some have shaken their heads at, and which i did see coming three full minutes ahead, but which I actually applaud. Nothing wrong with a melodramatic revelation, respect to Mr Davies for daring it. Trim this play down to a straight, hard-running 100 minutes-no-interval, and with this very fine cast it could tour, go West End. And, sadly, and feel topical most years…
Cft.org.uk to 11 november
Three.
theatreCat 