Theatre
The Cameo
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
THREE STARS
What do MPs do after their previously safe seat is suddenly occupied by somebody else? In The Cameo – by Kieran Lynn and DC Jackson – the publicity hungry John Dumfries attempts to swap one soap opera for another: no longer cast in the role of a serving Westminster politician, John (Steven McNicoll) has wangled himself a brief appearance in Scotland’s top soap Gallus Palace. It’s supposed to be more of a “walk-on/walk off” vignette but for John, this is his chance to reach out to those voters who dumped him, and regain popularity by association.
No-one, of course, has bothered to tell trachled producer Kate. Molly Innes keeps the character drolly acerbic in the face of not one, but two over-stuffed egos. If McNicoll’s Dumfries is crassly, and obliviously self-centred, Jane McCarry is almost Wagnerian as barmaid Angela, the queen bee of the popular soap – or, as she prefers to describe it “continuing drama.” There’s as much substance to the plot as the froth on a pint. It’s an excuse for Lynn and Jackson to crack jokes together and lampoon pretensions, political and thespian alike, while suggesting both activities are cut from the same make-believe cloth.
The comedy, however, has to rely on the cliches it aims to spoof and that creates difficulties when it comes to a conclusion– what’s left? Ah... the poor old “c-word” faux pas. Hints at the part it played in Dumfries’s downfall have amused, but used out loud as a running gag it stops being funny. The audience for A Play, a Pie and a Pint – which has kicked off the autumn season with The Cameo – are, however, a good-humoured bunch. They don’t even object to the final joke at their expense.
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