Yes, hamming up the Welshman usually gets a laugh, but it can't be relied on as Subs at Cock Tavern Theatre proves.
You've got to like the idea of inviting a bunch of writers to a play about sub-editors. That's what happened for the press night of Subs at Cock Tavern Theatre in which the first line is “What's the house style on G-string?” – an essential basic for a sub-editor at Gentlemen Prefer... magazine.
Subs, one of Cock Tavern's best-selling plays from 2010 returns for another run, inviting the audience into the world of the lonely, bored sub-editors at a supposedly upmarket lifestyle magazine written by men for men. The premise has the making of an evening of dirty, sexist jokes from ignorant men who spend their time dreaming of a life beyond the monotony of the office – and we've seen how funny offices can be.
Subs, however, revolves around three sensible characters and one nutter. And one nutter just isn't enough. Rather than have the sub-editors all going slowly mad and growing more and more outlandish, Subs misses a lot of opportunity for humour by revolving around such dull characters. Married Chief Sub Editor Derek (Steve Hay) gets irritated with his deputy, tiresome joker Finch, but handles the situation fairly sensibly in a suburban dad kind of way. This puts a lot of pressure on Michael Cusick who plays the obnoxious Welshman. As a result, Finch is milked for humour and his antics are hammed up without much thought for how irritating he can become.
Subs contains the kernels of about three different plays. If they were made, they would address: gender issues in the office, ageism in employment and probably, hopefully, the mindset behind the readers and writers of lads' mags (especially the so-called high-end ones). But none of these themes is fully explored, though I doubt writer RJ Purdey set out to do that. Rather, this play presents itself as a comedy, which makes it all the more disappointing that it lacks any real wit or repartee.
The introduction of female freelancer Anna is supposed to bring change to the testosterone-drenched environment. It doesn't. It changes Finch. He tones down his wankery but still acts like a child. He learns something about himself which is quite refreshing, but not funny. Anna too is a less than remarkable character. She is essentially sweet and supposedly likes to swear which she does erm...about once I think. As the plot trundles on, hard-working characters succeed (but not all of them), troublemakers learn their lessons and there's a bit of intra-office shagging for good measure.
In terms of ticket sales, Subs did have a great run last year. So there's something to be said for the humour in this play but the poorly crafted characters cause it to fall short.
Subs runs at Cock Tavern Theatre until 29th January.
Image: Steve Hay and Michael Cusick. Photographer Richard Hubert Smith
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