The Slab Boys
The Traverse, Edinburgh

Sean Cannon

The Traverse was founded in 1963 in an efort to capture the spirit of experimentation and adventure of the Edinburgh festival all year round. Forty years on, the Traverse has revived one of its biggest hits as a culmination of its 40th year anniversary celebrations. The play originally premiered on the 6th of April 1978 and went on to play on Broadway.

As it clearly states in the programme notes, 'It is the first time the Traverse has ever revived a greatest hit, but it's our birthday so we have the perfect excuse to give ourselves a big gift-wrapped present'. Now this is an honest statement and many would say fair enough, after all they probably deserve it. It does seem a shame to me that a theatre that has so consistently produced stunning cutting edge theatre has, instead of commissioning a fantastically exciting piece of new writing, taken the easy option and brought back to life a play that has lived and, as all living things do, died.

The play is set in 1957 and centres on Phil and Spanky, a pair of likely lads from Paisley who work in the 'slab room', where they mix the paint used in the manufacture of carpets. Playing to full house, as I was sure it would, the production sizzled along at a cracking pace, and the first half was full of well-timed gags and some beautifully theatrical acting. There is no doubt that Byrne has an extraordinary gift for timing and wordplay and it was immediately obvious why this production was such a huge success back in 1978. The audience, made up of a generally slightly older crowd than is usually seen at the Traverse, was in the mood to enjoy and there was an almost sickly feeling of nostalgia hanging in the air. It was easy to get caught up in this, and as the first half came to an end I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

It was only when the second half was well underway that I started to tire of the one-liners, and the gags started to become obvious to the point of groan-worthy. I started to question what the writer was actually trying to say with this piece, and whether an audience of people who were not so 'connected' to this revival would take the production.

The two main characters are stuck in this job, although Phil has applied to art school, and there is no sense of a deeper political or sociological commentary other than the fact that, after all there is no way out. There is of course nothing wrong with 'telling it like it is', but this message seemed to contradict the rest of the piece. Phil and Spanky are a double act whose antics are so choreographed as to be farcical. It occasionally resembles the slick timing of Laurel and Hardy.

When the boys began to talk seriously there are some beautiful moments of sincerity that I was desperate to see more of. If the overall message is one of doom and gloom, why were these moments of genuine humanity washed away by increasingly poor gags? And, if the message is one of hope and of the inherent joy in endeavour of the human spirit, why were we not even offered a glimpse of a brighter future for these two miscreants? We discover by the end of the play that Phil's application to art school is unsuccessful.

I imagine this show will do very well. The audience of a certain age seems to be content to be amused for a couple of hours, and this I am afraid to say, is all that The Slab Boys has to offer. I would have loved for the Traverse to have taken the opportunity of its birthday celebrations to create a new 'greatest hit'. For a theatre that remains as a great white hope for the future of new writing in Scotland I believe they have made an error in bringing this production back. Having said that, I am sure they will make the most of the ticket revenue that will come pouring in as people flock to see this remarkable piece of history.

On the plus side it is a production that is slick in the extreme and acted with gusto by a quite brilliant cast. The set is lovely and the music well chosen. The vast majority who attend will enjoy it and as big gift-wrapped presents go, it will do very nicely, thank you. I, for one, hope that revival does not become a trend at the Traverse; there is enough of that in pretty much every theatre in Britain. Let's see the cutting edge brilliance return soon. Please?

Every day except Monday till 7 December. Then 6, 10, 13, 17, 20 and 24 January.