Chris Wilkinson
posted 5 May 2005

'Welcome to New Flood, it's a lot fucking worse than it looks.' So says the vandalised sign outside this destitute Scottish town. Not only is this true, but they have just been given the award of 'Worst town in Scotland' to prove it.

Instead of using the prize money to improve things a little, however, Vincent, our narrator and new Flood's resident 'artist' has a plan - use some of the cash to make the place even worse, thereby securing victory again the following year and winning even more to spend on improvements. However, in Douglas Maxwell's contemporary fairytale, things inevitably don't go to plan as the sinister chemist and chairman of the funds committee Sweeney seeks to destroy the town for good.

It is not violence or squalor that define New Flood's catastrophe. Rather, Maxwell shows us that it is the piercing loneliness of its inhabitants that provides for the true core of the town's degradation. Norman gets greater fulfilment in his internet personality 'Lucille' than in the real world around him; Mrs Young longs for even the most basic sign of friendship; and Ty and Vincent find themselves torn apart by the entrenched homophobia surrounding them. It is only as a result of their collective attempt to foil Sweeney's evil plan that they are eventually able tentatively to reach out to one another.

Throughout, the play runs the risk of sliding into slushy sentimentality: at times, it seems almost to be saying that all of the modern world's problems can be solved with a hug. However, there is something extremely compelling about the innocent - almost naïve - quality of the play. The childlike fairy tale aspect of the story contrasts strongly with the misery at its heart. All of this is shot through with Maxwell's dry wit, and is treated to some impressive performances. Paul Thomas Hickey as Vincent struts the stage like an arrogant, fragile cockerel, and Ann Louise Ross gives a quiet dignity to Mrs Young as she tries to come to terms with her terminal isolation. This is by no means the strongest show in Paines Plough's 'This Other England' season, but it finds a warm humour in the tragedy of solitude, and for this deserves to be seen.

Till 22 May 2005