Radiant Vermin, Glasgow review - 'The show dazzles with its skill, delights with its wit'

The badlands of the UK property market spark a pitch-dark satire, writes Joyce McMillan

Radiant Vermin, Tron Theatre, Glasgow *****

Mumbelina, Oran Mor, Glasgow, ***

There’s always been a whiff of the Satanic about the plays of Philip Ridley, ever since he made his sensational debut with Pitchfork Disney, back in 1990. Never, though, has that fascination with the satanic been given a more powerful political edge than in his 2015 play Radiant Vermin, now given its Scottish premiere in a pitch-perfect Tron production by Johnny McKnight.

Martin Quinn, Julie Wilson Nimmo and Dani Heron in Radiant Vermin (Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Set in the badlands of the UK property market during the current age of outrageous rents and soaring mortgage payments, this glorious pitch-dark satire sees young couple Jill and Ollie finding all their housing dreams coming true after a strange woman called Miss Dee makes an offer they can’t refuse. The moral price they pay, though, is an absolutely shocking one, with resonances across the bleak streets of austerity Britain; and McKnight’s production brings this mixture of domestic farce and utter horror to life with a perfectly timed brilliance that takes the breath away.

The show essentially has four star performers, including Dani Heron and Martin Quinn – hilarious, touching, horrifying and staggeringly skilful as Jill and Ollie – and Julie Wilson Nimmo, giving the double performance of her life as Miss Dee and a homeless woman called Kay.

The fourth star, though, is Kenny Miller’s outrageously brilliant set, backed by Emma Jones’s lighting. A house outlined in fast-moving neon that changes colour and emphasis with every twist of the plot, it steps up to perfection to its role of representing the bleak economic opportunism of British newbuild, and the tragedy of a nation whose most cherished dreams now seem to involve perfect fitted kitchens and basement jacuzzis.

The show careers towards a Macbeth-like climax at thrilling speed, as Ollie’s conscience begins to play up. Yet this superb play’s killer blow comes at the very end, when the couple force us to glimpse the horrible complicity of everyone living a comfortable western life with a system that literally kills to secure our comfort. The show dazzles with its skill, delights with its wit and frightens us with the sheer sharpness of its moral intelligence.

The latest Oran Mor summer panto, by contrast, could use a little more of that satirical sharpness, if only to make the best use of a vibrant and hilarious cast headed by Joyce Falconer as Dame Ina D PePe, with George Brennan, Gail Watson, Michelle Gallagher, and Chloe Hodgson as the unimpressed Understudy.

Written by the same Johnny McKnight, directed by Darren Brownlie and featuring music by Novasound, Mumbelina – inspired by Hans Andersen’s Thumbelina – tells the story of Ina, a Glasgow mammy who, in a fit of frustration at the smallness of her life, accepts an offer from a seductive talking frog who shrinks her to the size of a thumbnail.

The plot, though – which involves Ina soon spotting the emptiness of lily-pad life – is barely more than a peg on which to hang McKnight’s usual riot of pop-cultural references and showbiz in-jokes, interspersed with the occasional half-hearted political gag, and a few forgettable songs.

The Oran Mor audience hardly seem to care, though. Rightly bewitched by the skill, energy and goodwill of a dream cast, they relish every moment that makes sense to them, and giggle their way through the rest. And if Oran Mor has yet to find a new team that can turn out an inspired political panto as David MacLennan and Dave Anderson once did, this current company certainly knows how to entertain.

Radiant Vermin at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 13 July, and Mumbelina at Oran Mor, Glasgow, until 20 July.