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Bear with me: Sun Bear @ParkTheatre

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If The Light House is an uplifting tale of survival, Sarah Richardson’s Sun Bear gives a contrasting take on this. Sarah plays Katy. We’re introduced to Katy as she runs through a list of pet office peeves with her endlessly perky coworkers, particularly about coworkers stealing her pens. It’s a hilarious opening monologue that would have you wishing you had her as a coworker to help relieve you from the boredom of petty office politics.  But something is not quite right in the perfect petty office, where people work together well. And that is her. And despite her protesting that she is fine, the pet peeves and the outbursts are becoming more frequent. As the piece progresses, maybe the problem lies in a past relationship, where Katy had to be home by a particular hour, not stay out late with office colleagues and not be drunk enough not to answer his calls. Perhaps the perky office colleagues are trying to help, and perhaps Katy is trying to reach out for help. It has simple staging

Theatre and therapy: In Basildon


In Basildon by David Eldridge at The Royal Court is a brilliantly funny play about a dysfunctional family and an inheritance. Len is on his deathbed and the family gather to say goodbye. His two sisters Maureen and Doreen have not spoken in nearly twenty years. Doreen's son Barry is hoping to get the house as his inheritance so he can start a family. The scene is set for greed, grudges and entitlement against the backdrop of the city of Basildon, a rather bleak looking town created in post war England to house the growing population from London (and featured in the above promotional video).


The finely drawn characters pull you into the drama. The superb cast is headed by Linda Bassett (of East is East fame and other films) as Doreen and Mike Leigh veteran Ruth Sheen as Maureen. They are sisters with a long grudge and years of bitterness between them. And it is hard not to laugh when you hear their names together.

The characters are on one level grotesque which is the source of much of the comedy, but they also are completely believable. So much so that you feel it isn't a hatchet job on Basildon or a particular way of life. There are also larger observations about how families are something to be endured and avoided. People make decisions throughout the play that make them worse off based upon how they assume they should live. So you leave the theatre understanding their motivations, but wondering if there should be more to life than this...

The dialogue is funny and full of sharp observations that you will be glad that the programmes include the full script so you can brush up on them later... Or perhaps re-enact your favourite scenes on the tube ride home. If you are thinking of doing the latter it would be advisable to avoid some of the more contentious scenes, particularly if anyone is eating jellied eels nearby.

In this production the audience can sit either side of the stage in the stalls or circle. From my seat in the stalls I did wonder whether there was any benefit in sitting on the other side, apart from being able to see Len on his deathbed. But I suspect this is part of the fun of this play in that you see different aspects of it depending upon the side you're coming from...

It runs until April 5 and could benefit from repeat viewings from all angles... Or at least a West End transfer... It deserves one...

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