Theatre review: A Dog Called Redemption

Published on Wednesday 6 August 2008 20:34

A DOG CALLED REDEMPTION *** UNDERBELLY'S BABY BELLY (VENUE 88)

TWO excellent performances and a consistently surprising and witty script enliven this deft two-hander. Playwright Matthew Landers puts his neck on the chopping block by playing an unnamed Big Issue seller whose cocky, mouthy manner is a cover-up for his crack and alcohol addictions.

Winner of a Willy Russell Award for his first play, Landers proves just as adept as an actor – it's an energetic, funny, refreshingly unselfconscious turn. But even he comes off second best to his co-star.

Graham Elwell plays a mentally ill homeless man befriended by Landers's character, and together the pair seek shelter for the night before the cold sets in. Elwell gives a terrific performance that never shrinks from the comedic potential of his Monty Python-obsessed vagrant, yet never seems at all insensitive.

His wide-eyed gormless look of comic incomprehension is perfectly pitched and his fixation on Michael Palin – the most unassuming of the Pythons – is both funny and oddly touching.

As the two men's night wears on you realise that the publicity's name-checking of Brokeback Mountain wasn't just mad hyperbole. You begin to wonder if there isn't any subject Landers can't tackle as a writer and where he's heading in the future. Funny, deft and touching, this is a lovely wee show.

• Until 24 August. Today 3:35pm