David Greig's stock couldn't be higher at the moment, what with the multi-million-pound Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical, with a book by Greig and directed by Sam Mendes, currently going through previews at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane before the critics get their say later this month.
For now, however, Dalgety, Greig's utopian, back-to-nature cop comedy about ethics, brings down the curtain on the current A Play, A Pie, and A Pint season this week. And a treat it is too.
Expanded from its origins as a short piece for Theatre Uncut, the show is performed with great aplomb by John Bett and Lesley Hart (who bravely performs naked at one point), and beautifully showcases both Greig's intelligence, as well as his rich gift for comedy.
Set during the London Olympics, Bett and Hart play two Fife cops eagerly counting down the time for their shift change. He's keen to get up the road to watch the men's 100m final; she's got her sights set on watching the TV with a bottle of wine. Unfortunately at the last minute a naked rambler type turns up at the station and has to be dealt with.
From here, Greig's script takes on a surreal, apocalyptic feel. As symbols of the world outside slowly disappear, and a tribe of naked people make camp near the station, the play asks what really constitutes civilisation – the law, commercialisation; land ownership, and propriety (Bett); or back to nature, freedom of expression and community (the converted Hart). It sounds heavy sledding, but is anything but. A short, warm, funny play that wears its Utopian heart on it sleeve.
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