One man and his rodent. Naima Khan reviews David Ralfe's one man show, Hamster Town at Camden People's Theatre
David Ralfe's one man show Hamster Town runs at a sharp 45 minutes. I'm usually in favour of short shows: say what you have to say in as little time as possible please. But Hamster Town has convinced me that some characters deserve a generous set up.
Ralfe's Darren is one of them. A passive office worker whose daughter lives with his ex-wife and her new partner, Darren's solitary existence is punctuated with disappointment which he isn't assertive enough to counter. On a particularly shattering night, he finds himself drawn to a hamster in a pet shop window, which he welcomes into his home with open arms, a truck load of luxury gifts and some hilariously sincere speeches.
Ralfe's language and delivery is soft but excitable. He has an air of the self-deprecating but Darren doesn't really berate himself, which is a welcome relief. His frustration at having his daughter taken away by an uncaring ex he still refers to as 'my wife', pushes him onto a dark, desperate route and allow him to shut out the rest of the world.
Ralfe has created a character of literary worth: on the brink of sanity, grasping at an identity, he has something in common with Margaret Atwood's Marian in The Edible Woman. While Ralfe might not be looking at gender issues, he has created a character intent on giving human qualities to an animal in the way Marian does with food. Darren forms a solidarity with his hamster but he also argues with it, lives for it and is consumed by it, and Ralfe really masters this. The development of Darren's relationships with his ex, his daughter and his hamster are brilliantly set up. Through phone calls and flashbacks they're given names and personalities. But we know little of Darren's boss, his persona at work, or how he regards his colleagues. While this reminds us that he doesn't really engage with the world beyond his flat, it makes his radical transformation after being sacked difficult to contextualise.
Nonetheless, Hamster Town is a great portrait of a lonely, well-meaning man and a great performance by a theatre maker I'll be looking out for in the the future.
Hamster Town runs at Camden People's Theatre as part of Camden Fringe until 17th August.
Image by Zing Tsjeng
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