REVIEW: THE GREATEST PLAY OF ALL TIME at The Old Red Lion 19 – 30 March 2024

‘A play within a play within the head of a playwright’ ★★★★

Set in the mind of a writer, two unnamed characters spar with each other. The writer, riddled with self-doubt, is desperate to create a groundbreaking, controversial play that is also a commercial success. The characters in his head laugh, fight, debate and care for each other in the love/hate way of siblings or lovers. Sometimes the characters are products of the writer’s thoughts, sometimes the central figures in the (badly written) play he is working on, sometimes observers of the thoughts and feelings of the writer. All very meta.

This play is a polemic on the state of modern theatre. Little escapes searing scorn or parody – from Shakespeare to hit musicals, from physical theatre to opera, from the drive for political correctness in new writing to the programming of “safe” Russian classics, from the money-making, star-filled blandness of West End theatre to the very audiences themselves. Everything is set up to be wittily torn down.

Robin Hughes’ writing is taught, well observed and laugh out loud funny. I get that he was pushing boundaries, something I personally love, but at times for me he stepped over the line in dealing with issues of racism and antisemitism. The play was at its most powerful when the characters’ guard came down and we could see their genuine pain. I found myself craving more of these moments to balance the caustic humour of the rest of the piece. I am sorry to say I was underwhelmed by the ending, given the quality of writing in the rest of the play.

Martin Coates and Lorne MacNaughton were outstanding as the characters in the writer’s head. Their high energy performances were well matched, and they both brought nuance and subtlety to key moments that really made the show sing.

Callum Sharp’s direction was very clever. He created a well-paced show that used the black box space brilliantly, and he also made the most of the rare moments of stillness and reflection in the rumbunctious script, without losing dramatic tension. Superb.

If you are easily offended, you may want to give this show a miss. But if you love theatre and can hold your nerve during the wince-inducing moments, this may well be the show for you.

Photography: Dark Room Productions

THE GREATEST PLAY OF ALL TIME by Robin Hughes, The Old Red Lion, Claddagh Productions, 19 – 30 March 2024

Book tickets https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/the-greatest-play-of-all-time.html

Performers: Martin Coates, Lorne MacNaughton

Director: Callum Sharp

Writer: Robin Hughes

Music: Sophie Bokor Ingram

Designer: Charlotte Maggs

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full-length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.