34. Sign of the Times - Duchess Theatre

There’s something slightly guilty about writing about a play that has already closed ignominiously, especially if it’s one that you didn’t particularly enjoy. Though I didn’t particularly dislike it either. In fact, the problem was really that it left me not feeling or thinking much of anything and has already sunk into the annals of the barely remembered (luckily I’ve at least been managing to keep notes about all the shows I’m seeing, even if keeping up with the diaries was a massive failure – as otherwise I would be glaring at a blank screen right now with no idea what to type).


This for me was the equivalent of sinking into a sofa with some junk food on a Sunday and switching on some instantly forgettable and undemanding comedy and drifting away. For some reason, When The Whistle Blows, the fake TV show inside Ricky Gervais’ Extras has sprung to mind. And the thing is there’s nothing particularly wrong with that, even in the theatre, not everything has to be groundbreaking or remarkably clever. Here the play was enjoyable and entertaining and familiarly silly – it was fun to watch and I laughed plenty during the evening – but because it didn’t ask anything more or ask me to think at all, it’s difficult to enthuse about it. I was so switched off that I didn’t even work out what the sign was actually going to spell out until the last letter was in place.

Similarly the set, lighting and sound left little impression on me – though I did like the Frank design lit up at the end of the first half and it was nice to have Good Day Sunshine playing us out during the curtain calls at the end. I’ve been a Beatles fan since my early teens and its lovely every now and then to be reminded how awesome they are (it happens fairly often but I never get tired of it). Though it did leave me wondering if there was supposed to be any connection or journey implied when combining it with the equally lovely 50’s music that was playing in the interval – sadly though, like the rest of the production, I’m not sure this was actually the result of any deeper thought or relevance.

The cast certainly did the best with what they were given, I’ve enjoyed Mathew Kelly in everything I’ve seen him in and this was certainly no different and I felt Gerald Kearns made a convincing, if a little tentative, stage though. Even if I must admit I was rather hoping to see his understudy, Luke Baker, who was a favourite when I saw him understudy PC Boot in Salad Days earlier in the year.

On a more individual note – I’m not sure whether to be worried that I automatically completed Adam’s mnemonic for him - PRIDE gives us Purpose and Reputation which makes us Inspired, Determined and Enthusiastic. I have clearly been over indoctrinated into this sort of world. Oh dear.