From the makers of Bouncers, Teechers and Shakers comes Codgers: the story of an OAP bus junket to Germany. Watching a bunch of biddies getting bladdered in Bavaria is not an immediate recipe for great theatre - but in the grand Hull Truck tradition of staging the unstageable, John Godber turns a bad trip into a brilliant night out.
Men of the World marks a welcome return to the hallowed Hull Truck style of bare-bones physical theatre, in which a minimal number of actors play a vast number of characters at a furious lick. After some recent, rather ambivalent attempts to draw fully rounded characters in Chekhovian situations, it is a relief to see Godber snap back into two dimensions. The constituents of the coach party may be stereotypes - the vignettes whiz by too quickly for them to be anything else - but nobody nails a stereotype better than Godber when he is on form.
What really distinguishes the play, however, is its compassion. Few elderly folk are represented fairly on stage. When anyone over 60 appears in a drama, it is invariably in the guise of a mad old tyrant like Lear or a dear, decrepit dodderer in the manner of Firs. Godber gives his superannuated stereotypes a good ribbing, but he also gives them their dignity.
Much credit is due to the three-strong cast, who have nothing but a pile of old suitcases and their commendable virtuosity to work with. Hull Truck stalwarts Robert Angell, Sarah Parks and Dicken Ashworth take the parts of Stick, Frank and Larry, three battle-weary bus drivers who re-enact an awful journey.
Parks continues to be one of our most underappreciated actresses. With a manner as brisk as a biting wind through Halifax and a voice like a peeled basset hound being rubbed down with sandpaper, she is not what you would call a mellifluous presence. She is, however, a brilliant comedian and mimic, transforming effortlessly from a phlegmy, pigeon-chested ex-miner into a blowsy club entertainer in sequins, creating the splendid conundrum of a woman impersonating a man who gets mistaken for a drag act. Now that's versatility.
· Until November 9. Box office: 01482 323638. Then touring.
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