Neville’s Island is a rather strange tale of 4 friends… umm colleagues… aww no suppose more team mates, who find themselves lost on a fog bound island in the lake district after a simple mistake. Written by Tim Firth, the man behind Kinky Boots and Calendar Girls, the show starts with a lot of potential and laughs throughout the first half but turns very dark in the second half, with multiple references to religion and the characters fighting
The 4 characters are very much centred around rather strange masculine negatives; Neville (Sean Michael Verey) too clever for his own good, Gordon (Philip Cairns) does nothing but mock and criticise, Angus (Beruce Khan) who seem to be the deadly fusspot and ‘religious’ Roy (Stephen Leask) a Christian with a history of mental instability.
There are lots of laughs through the show and I certainly found myself having to pull my mask back up plenty of times due to massive laughs. There are some great jokes simply based around the guy’s desperation, just wait and see what they end up eating.
The staging was great, I spotted a few members of the audience getting wet at the start and I couldn’t tell if the grass on stage was real or not.
It was very funny and the acting and performance was fantastic. But the show, written in 1992, very much felt outdated and the religious and metal health aspects could have been treated with a lot more sensitivity. This is certainly not a show for children
Nevertheless, it was great to be back and all of the actors did an amazing job. Philip was certainly not shy in throwing himself around as the aggressive tease and Michael actually seemed to bring out the caring side of Neville for the other members of the group
Generally, The Queen’s Theatre reacted great to the current Covid situation, with delivery of food/drink to your seat as you can even order the food via their website. They are certainly not letting the virus drag them down
Neville’s Island is at The Queen’s Theatre 20 May – 12 June & 22 June – 3 July 2021