Review: Barking In Essex at the Wyndham’s Theatre

Barking In Essex

Wyndham’s Theatre

Reviewed on Tuesday 17th September 2013

I am still in shock after seeing Barking In Essex, a play which just gets worse and worse. Incest, death and sexual encounters involving a car that I do not want to know about are a few words and phrases which spring to mind.

There is absolutely no way that the play Clive Exton wrote before he passed away is ready for the West End. Bringing a brand new show straight into town isn't risky, it's just stupid. A prime example of this is Viva Forever which premiered in the West End, was awful and received horrific reviews. The show was then revamped, I saw the new production which was nowhere near as bad as everyone made it out to be but it was too little too late because the word of mouth was diabolical.

Perhaps if Viva Forever had had an out of town tryout (similar to shows including Matilda and Wicked) before moving to the West End it wouldn't have been such a flop. Perhaps if Barking In Essex had an out of town tryout it would have been scrapped and never opened in the West End, meaning I wouldn't have had to sit through it. 

To begin with I quite enjoyed Barking In Essex. The set is impressive during the first act and the characters are strong. Although an early reference to Lee Evans’ character, Darnley, entering Who Wants To Be A Millionaire made the piece feel slightly dated. The first ten minutes set Barking In Essex up to be a fantastic farce, but unfortunately it takes a horrible dark turn. I’m not sure if the play knows exactly what it is trying to be. I'm not even going to explain the story because it really is quite dull.

The swearing is obscene, I've never heard the ‘C word’ used so many times within such a short time period. At first the swearing proved popular with the audience, it was shocking and therefore funny. However, swearing is so overused that the effect soon wears off and eventually becomes a little awkward. 

The best thing about Barking In Essex is the casting. Lee Evans, Shelia Hancock and Keeley Hawes are all superb in their roles and do their best with the awful script which becomes hugely frustrating. Sheila's characterisation is unforgettable while Lee makes the role his own. The play needs to be so much snappier, but instead scenes drag and long periods of time pass where nothing actually happens. The second half is appalling and creates a whole new meaning to the term ‘black comedy’ - although at times I struggled to identify the 'comedy'.

The play’s title and Lee Evans' casting is obviously attracting new audience members to the theatre which is wonderful, although I feel embarrassed that Barking In Essex is representing West End theatre to these first-time theatre goers. The play has already taken over £1.5million at the box office so maybe I’m missing something. Unfortunately Barking In Essex is just a waste of time, the first act is fairly funny but I found the play’s conclusion unforgivably disgusting.

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)

andrew@westendframe.com

Barking In Essex runs at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 4th January 2014.
Click here to book tickets.

Photo Credit: Alastair Muir

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