Eddie (Joe Dixon) is 18 stone of misery and ingrowing toenails who runs a fake American roller diner in an English city, staffed by his daughter Chantel (Lucie Shorthouse), her chef boyfriend (Ricky Oakley), and waitress Jean (Rina Fatania). The place leaks unhappiness and unfulfilled dreams until the appearance of Marika (Lucy McCormick) who claims to be a Polish immigrant looking for work.
It’s not the most auspicious place to start, because Jean might be speaking for them all when she says she likes Polish people, but only in Poland. “It’s getting a bit squashed here.” But before long Marika is bringing change and making these little Englanders reassess their own lives and relationships. Is she the devil or perhaps an unlikely angel?
Stephen Jackson’s likable debut play with songs has plenty going for it, but despite an enormously talented cast doesn’t quite have the madcap comic edge needed in Steve Marmion’s production. Often the zany swerves of plot and shifts in mood come across as deficiencies in plotting and tone rather than theatrical strategies.
Fatania is a joy as Jean, and McCormick is outstanding as she negotiates the hilarious and the tragic, even if there’s something uncomfortable about the way the play uses a trafficked woman as a comic plot device. But there are some smart, funny moments as it points out how living with so-called aliens can bring out the worst and best in us.
- At Soho theatre, London, until 24 June. Box office: 020-7478 0100.
