David Halliwell pens a terrific title. And while it's good to see his best-known work get another airing, whatever happened to pieces such as A Last Belch for the Great Auk and Janitress Thrilled By Prehensile Penis?
Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs takes us back to a seemingly more innocent age when real men wore afghans and art students had grants. The loquacious central character is a rebel without a pause; an undergraduate insurrectionist ready to unleash a barrage of invective against the evils of the establishment. Goodness only knows what he'd have to say about top-up fees.
Though the characters seem faintly cartoonish, Halliwell's play retains its disturbing underbelly of dictatorial ambition. Malcolm's foundation of the Party of Dynamic Erection sounds like a rag-week stunt; but what was Hitler if not a disaffected painter?
Paul Simpson's unsettling Malcolm is a cold-eyed little ferret; and Jeff Hordley is greatly affecting as the persecuted poet Nipple. Malcolm redraws the calendar after the names of his cronies. I accordingly advise that you catch this show before the run concludes on the 21st of Ingham.
· Until February 21. Box office: 01204 520661.
