Part of the Camden Fringe, How does that make you feel? had me grinning from start to finish with quite a few belly laughs along the way.
Have you ever found yourself ‘sleep strangling’ your husband? Forgetting to tell him that the brakes don’t work on the car? If so, you made be in need of some relationship counselling. This brilliant written short play is well worth an hour of your time at the very pleasant Lion and Unicorn Theatre. John Hill has captured the extremes of a dysfunctional marriage with much hilarity. The three characters are almost like caricatures; the weedy husband – the kind that never gets the girl; has managed to snag the most beautiful woman on his death bed and then he got better. The counsellor with the cut glass English accent and marriage issues of his own. The wife, beautiful sexy – and lethal. Put together the sharp fire wit and wild claims of attempted murder and infidelity are almost reminiscent of Monty Python.
With only three in the cast and very little props it is a credit to the writing and acting to make this comedy so brilliant. Ethan Chapples is wonderful as he gives us the bumbling toff counsellor, starting as very confident and manipulative and ending as a nervous wreck; the transformation is key as he realises the two people in front of him are not quite what they seem. Saria Steel is perfect as Kirsty, the crazy, sexy, pathological liar with a touch of psychosis – that’s quite a range to portray in a one hour play but she mixes it up and throws it together and lets it out in one amazing ball of madness! And finally Tom Bonnington is comic genius as the alleged weak and nerdy husband Trevor; this performance is the most vital piece. We laugh at his patheticness, we laugh at his clothes and his embarrassing ways; we laugh because he is a bit simple and we know things that he doesn’t but Trevor has the last laugh.
Excellently directed by Manuel Bau with an incredibly talented cast and a clever script; these crazy characters would be perfect in a sitcom but until then I highly recommend coming to see them interact in their counselling session.
Review by Rachel Borland
When a double-glazing salesman and doting husband discovers his wife is going to relationship counselling he insists on being part of the solution, unaware that he’s all of the problem.
Cast
Kirsty – Saria Steel
Sebastian – Ethan Chapples
Trevor – Tom Bonington
Directed by Manuel Bau
Stage Manager/Production Assistant – Allie Hunter
Writer John Hill