Bread and Butter Tricycle Theatre, London NW6, until 27 November
People have dreams. And sometimes that is all they have. Take Morris, for example. His dreams on socialism are so big that they never could be fulfilled. Thus he gives them up and his existence loses all meaning.
Morris is one of the main characters in CP Taylor's 1966 play Bread and Butter, revived now by Dumbfounded Theatre and Oxford Stage Company. Born into an immigrant Jewish family in Glasgow, Taylor (1929-1981) is best known for his drama Good of 1981 which also deals with his general topic - how ordinary people are seduced by unrealistic political visions.
Set in the Gorbals in Glasgow between 1931 and 1965, Bread and Butter pits the somehow educated, big-talking Morris against his long-time friend Alec. A simple-minded but straightforward worker in Morris's father's factory, Alec never got the big flat he always longed for. And since misery loves company, the two friends make their way through life.
The conversations, on love, friendship, and sex, are more interrupted than enriched by encounters with the men's wives, the machinist Miriam and the better-off Sharon, but the play itself is sensitively directed by Mark Rosenblatt, beautifully designed and well acted (especially by Gerry Lepkowski as Morris).
