There’s some pleasure in seeing a talented cast in such a spirited atmosphere of fun – Vicky Featherstone directs with a loose, playful sensibility – but these moments were too few and far between for my liking. Watching Ryan Sampson bluffing with his muffin raises a chuckle and Paul Bhattacharjee’s president, always accompanied by Alan Williams’ faithful Dave the Driver, is well played. But elsewhere, the likes of Sam Troughton, Ferdy Roberts and Jonjo O’Neill are given far too little to work on to really impress – here’s hoping they have better opportunities later in the season – and Chloe Lamford’s functional set design, which has to work across all six shows, offers little of particular inspiration to make the staging really pop.
The weekly rep feels like as much of a risk for the audience as it is for the Royal Court and I have to say I was glad I held out for a late bargain in order to get my ticket - the idea of paying £20 a go to see all six of these plays was already a big ask and feels even less likely now. But by its very nature, such a wide-ranging enterprise was never going to please all of the people all of the time and I’m willing to be convinced to go along again to see another configuration of this excellent company and hopefully be more enthused.
Running time: 80 minutes (without interval)
Booking until 15th June