Review: Coalition

Review: Coalition

16 August, 2012
by: Stevie

Stevie Martin reviews political comedy play Coalition, starring Thom Tuck, Phill Jupitus, Jo Caulfield and Simon Evans.

A look at the murky, back-stabbing world of coalition politics starring Thom Tuck, Phill Jupitus and Simon Evans was always going to sell well. With Tuck as Matt Clegg, sorry, Cooper, leader of the Lib Dem party and deputy Prime Minister, and Evans as the shadowy Richard "Cameron" Mackintosh, it's 2014 and the Coalition has drifted up crap creek. With the paddles gradually being removed from Cooper by not only the Tories, but his own Party members. 

After an oddly slow start, with Cooper and his long suffering secretary Claudia (Jessica Regan) laying the groundwork for what is to come: namely, Cooper rapidly losing control, with a terrible decision really getting things started. There are, as you'd expect, many eyebrow-raised 'arf arf' digs at the Conservatives, and plenty of thinly veiled comparisons made to various degrees of amusement, but somewhere around the third scene things really hit their stride. 

The performances are, on the whole, comic but subtle, with a host of great supporting roles by the versatile John Dorney while Regan nails Claudia's restrained irritation versus her diminishing affection for the somewhat pathetic Cooper. Similarly, while the naive Eddie appears the cliched dumb character, he's given just the right dose of stupid faith without rendering him completely so, and  Jo Caulfield is spot on as the impressively icy, disapproving Lib Dem chief whip. Tuck as Cooper was a great bit of casting; he looks the part, he sounds the part and he acts the part impressively well. As the stakes get higher, and the hole he's dug himself gets deeper, he builds to an explosively angry conclusion. For anyone who's seen him before, this is classic Tuck (as in, cartoonish anger), but no less funny to watch. 

The runaway success, in terms of audience reaction, is Phill Jupitus which is probably because he's Phill Jupitus. As a walking stereotype of Tory values he's all pocket hankerchiefs and overt homosexuality – clearly he's been given free reign to play the "comedy character". Someone should have perhaps exercised a bit of quality control here. Over-egging doesn't quite cover it and the result is somewhat painful. The odd amusing exclamation or strange tic would work if not drowning in a sea of OOOOOOHS and TOODLE-OOOOOOOOS and bizarrely strained, mugging expressions. If he played it with just a little more subtlety, his character's balance between the ridiculous and the sinister would have worked so much better. 

Overall this is worth a watch and, while you're not going to come away feeling you just witnessed a masterpiece – let's have a dig at the Coalition is hardly scope groundbreaking satire – this is a solid, excellent in places, piece of comedy theatre.

Stevie Martin



Coalition is at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington until 10th March.

Stevie