A dizzying and twisting plot that will leave you pondering
The plot for Our Man in Havana is a bold one for four actors to take on, and you can see the work they put in to keep it flowing. Theatre Royal Windsor has done itself proud with the set they put together for the show, with plenty of clever exits that lead to snappy set changes and some comical quick changes; it was a marvel to watch. Congratulations to Julie Godfrey for her work on this. The costumes were a blend of well-placed for the period and comical in their disposability.
It must be said that, from all four Jack Ashton, Bob Barrett, Leon Ockenden and Jodie Steele, the show was a true marathon for them all. This did, however, potentially expose a ‘second show blues’ (having seen this on the second night, the 29th of July). There were just a few too many drop lines and missed cues to go unnoticed, which in turn slowed the pace of the show. This certainly made things more challenging, as the plot is not exactly simple, and a loss of pace led to some plot points becoming unclear.
Overall, the gallows and black humour landed with more of a knowing chuckle than a laugh, but this is the price of a drier comedy. There were some charming moments of comedy, though this came more from the actors’ performances than the lines themselves. Moments like Steele’s near psychotic performance as Milly and a fourth-wall break from Ockenden during a chase sequence. There is also a likelihood that some of the comedic moments are a little dated, or that the pathos of the joke wasn’t quite enough. The reveal in the Shanghai Theatre felt a little flat, though this is likely as much due to the level of multi-rolling going on that the audience could see the joke coming when they figured out who was currently on stage. But for a modern audience a reveal like this is not surprising nor warranting a big laugh.
The team captured the intrigue of a spy drama very well; sprinkled with the protagonist’s ludicrous escalation of the story, it created a perfect storm of drama. Each twist of the story builds the question of just how Wormold is going to figure a way out of this mess. The climax of the play sees lots of plot points joining together as expected, but one line undid a lot of the pay-off, said by Hawthorn. Perhaps it was meant to cast aspersions on the whole event and make the audience question how reliable the protagonist is, but there was not enough in the story to justify this remark.
In closing, there is all the chance I caught the show on an off day, but perhaps the team could have done with some additional actors to help separate some of the more complex scenes. There was a sense of it imitating Operation Micemeat in terms of its delivery and set movement. It managed to have enough intrigue to keep the audience engaged and highlight the more ridiculous side of espionage. The show is running until the 1st of August at the Oxford Playhouse.