Sleeping Dogs – Barons Court Theatre, London

Director: Scott Williams and Dominique Gerard

Writer: Brenda Gottsche

Reviewer: Lettie Mckie

The Public Reviews Rating:

Sleeping Dogs is a brand new play currently running at Barons Court Theatre in the basement of The Curtains Up pub. The play was fresh, dynamic and sinister. Husband and wife odd couple Roz and Leo (Edmund Dehn and Barbara Hatwell) live comfortably with their born again Christian son Alex (Joel Dyer) until an old friend of Leo’s from Australia, Andy (Andrew William Robb) comes back into their life, and turns it upside down.

The story of Leo’s chequered past unfolded gently, in parts a little too slowly, and the mystery of his previous life in Australia kept the audience guessing throughout the play. Andy blackmails Leo for money to cover up the fact that he is living in the UK illegally having abandoned a wife and child back home many years before. To hide the truth Leo bizarrely proclaims to Roz half way through the play that he was a member of an Australian gang and has to pay Andy off to keep the gangsters from catching up with him.

The drama and fear of the threat of violent mobsters turning up on their doorstep tears the couple apart and reveals the lies they have told each other over the years of their seemingly happy marriage. A compelling twist means that the audience are taken in along with Roz until the rather more banal truth is revealed in the final scenes of the play. Stunned and bemused she turns up at Leo’s funeral as the reality of what she has lost breaks over her.

This play was incredibly thought provoking, sensitively dealing with its themes of marriage, parenthood, sexuality, belief and celebrity. Inconsistency of pace and energy amongst the cast meant it dragged in parts, but in general strong characterisation and smatterings of ironic comedy kept the audience involved.

Seating is obviously an issue in this theatre as there are large pillars that obstruct the view and the chairs are situated on three sides of a square stage. More could have been done by the cast to ensure they played out to the entire audience, rather than concentrating most of the action towards the ‘front’ of the stage. If the writing had been less absorbing it would have been a real problem, as such, it was only slightly irritating.

Edmund Dehn’s portrayal of the secretive, alcoholic, brilliant but lost Leo stole the show. In a Q and A after the performance we learnt that he had stepped in at the last minute after the original actor dropped out a week ago. This was particularly impressive as he was the strongest actor in the play. He succeeded because he completely inhabited the weak, broken character that Leo is revealed to be by the end of the play. This weakness is highlighted by his relationship with his son, Alex, who both finds him pathetic and cares for him deeply.

One of the intrigues of this play was that as the relationship between Roz and Leo falls apart, Alex and his father grow closer. The portrayal of these relationships was held together in the strength of Dehn’s performance which was crucial in allowing the subtle handling of the plays themes to percolate in the minds of the audience. Joel Dyer was also brilliantly sardonic and enigmatic as Alex.

This play was sad but not melodramatic, thought provoking but not high-brow. It was ultimately about human failure and weakness, but also about the complexities and darkness of a seemingly happy middle class family life.