London Classic Theatre’s national tour of Joe Orton’s farcical satire, What The Butler Saw, is playing at the Darlington Hippodrome this week.
The set is striking. Designed by Bek Palmer and taking influence from pop art and surrealism, its brightly painted Greco-Roman sconces and arches off-set and off-kilter the ludicrous action – beneath a giant fist. The classical influence nods to Equus , the Habitat dining chairs infer on-trend familiar and the Dali-esque staircase lead us into the chaos.
Fast-paced and furious, the action is well-timed but lines delivered at speed were sometimes lost in a rush over articulation.
Orton’s script is both timeless and dated, hilarious at times and deeply uncomfortable at others. It’s when we step out of comfort zones we do our best learning – and here we learn that out-dated norms and ideas of sex and sexuality, gender roles and power,are roles best left behind, in time.
For more about the tour here
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