The inspiration for Alistair McGowan’s first play came when he was recording a voice-over with Imelda Staunton. "It’s not Chekhov," he thought, as the director burdened them with suggestions about how best to punt some piffling product.
McGowan derived from this epiphany an image of a recording studio in which there are two plays happening on either side of the soundproof glass screen – and of a larger play incorporating these two smaller ones. The result is Timing, a bittersweet comedy of fortuitous juxtaposition.
On one side of the glass divide voice-over veteran Julian finds himself trapped with his ex, Amanda. On the other are the writers and production team, whose vanity is sent up as they squabble over how best to promote a car with a fancy sat-nav system in a 30‑second advertisement — or, as it turns out, a 20-second one.
The play starts as an appealing farce. Yet gradually and then gruesomely it mutates into a consideration of social responsibilities – and, specifically, of creative ones. We learn that Julian and his ex have a knotty past, and the cynical writers also turn out to have submerged neuroses. All of which is about as surprising as the worm in a bottle of tequila.
As you’d expect from McGowan there are funny lines, and even some of the unfunnier ones have a certain satirical zing. But good lines don’t make a good play, and the cuts between the two sides of the screen are jerky. When at length the mood darkens, one feels as though the solemnity has been bolted on, rather than growing organically from what has gone before.
The performances, neatly marshalled by Tamara Harvey, are crisp. Edward Baker-Duly exudes a mixture of patrician playfulness and recriminatory earnestness as the professional yet jaded Julian, and Louise Ford is dazzlingly loathsome as the young producer immured in an ivory tower that’s apparently furnished with both squeaky religiosity and Stella McCartney high heels.
Nevertheless, while there’s evidence here that McGowan could become an intriguing playwright, Timing lacks structural unity and a real freshness of vision.
Until 8 November (0844 412 2953).
Timing
King's Head, Islington
Upper Street, Islington, N1 1QN
