Sobering drama from My Zinc Bed at the Royal and Derngate
David Hare's revised stage play wins cheers from audiences.
THERE was a time when alcoholism was a job requirement in journalism. You certainly couldn't keep your job on a national newspaper, in their golden years, without the two-hour lunch breaks "meeting contacts" in the pub.
That's why Paul Peplow was right to change careers. Being a badge-wearing member of AA he made a lousy hack in David Hare's sobering My Zinc Bed which has opened at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton.
Perhaps it was me but I wanted to grab this former poet, former lush, former member of the human race, by the scruff of his neck and insert some backbone into him.
Maybe I'm just intolerant but his self-pity and self-loathing made me want to reach for the bottle. Opting out of living shouldn't be the solution. Replacing one addiction with another isn't the answer. It's a problem in itself.
Peplow was a weak, pathetic mess of a man who had disappeared so far down the rabbit-hole that it was unlikely he'd ever find his way into the daylight again.
He'd hit rock bottom when found naked, dodging the traffic on the M4, and he seemed at times to regret not falling victim to a pile-up.
At least half-cut he was witty and bearable (though in need of a change of clothes and a shot of confidence followed by a chaser of optimism).
Sober he was as dull as dishwater, earnest, self-annihilating, and scared. He was a self-harmer who got his kicks on pain, suffering, loneliness and failure.
So it was surprising that this broken creature could attract the interest of others. There's only three characters in My Zinc Bed. One weak, one weaker still and one whose powerful and manipulative personality eclipsed all others and who collected the vulnerable like windfalls from an apple tree.
You knew Peplow was on a hiding to nothing the moment he attempted (and failed miserably) to interview self-made internet millionaire and former Communist Victor Quinn.
Robert Gwilym's Quinn was intimidating from the outset, physically and cerebrally. He radiated so much confidence, arrogance and assurance that everyone else wilted in his formidable shadow.
It's a mystery why he offered the shambling Peplow (played with conviction by History Boys' Jamie Parker) a job. He claimed he admired his poetry but was he just attracted to lame ducks?
Quinn was a mover and shaker. He was a big man in business who had spent his early years in a series of menial jobs. If he could be successful anyone could (if only the mantra of Communism was so successful in reality).
He had picked up his wife, "an international junkie of epic proportions," literally, from the floor of a bar. He promised her a better life. What she got was, superficially, an improvement, but not without its cracks.
Elsa, an emotional cripple, was inevitably drawn to Paul and you knew it was all going to end in heartache.
It sounds a bundle of laughs but Gwilym's illuminating performance
powered through the play's introspective and sometimes wordy dialogue.
Jamie Parker was suitable morose and cynical and played the drunk with just the right amount of sobriety to make it utterly convincing.
Leanne Best's Elsa was a contradiction. Outwardly confident and happy, sexily dressed and provocative, luring Peplow in with the rustle of stockings and an alluring smile but beneath the surface there was a woman struggling with life.
Hare seems to have a measure of contempt (make mine a double) for rescue organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous using Quinn to declare that they replaced a dependency on drink and drugs with coffee and a circle of friends.
Peplow is unable to function without the security blanket of an addiction, whether it's booze or the AA. Is that a cure? asks Quinn. Good question.
My Zinc Bed, staged in a moody half-light on a sterile grey set, was passionate and engrossing with powerful performances all round.
Director Laurie Sansom, the theatre's artistic director who scored such a success with last year's sensational Alan Ayckbourn and Young America seasons, is continuing to come up with regional rep at its best.
My Zinc Bed runs until March 13. For tickets call the box office 01604 624811 or go online www.royalandderngate.co.uk
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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