Hannah Knowles
posted 8 February 2006

Thalidomide!! A musical traces the history of the drug thalidomide, made infamous by the Nazis who promoted it as (amongst other things) a treatment for morning sickness, catastrophically resulting in thousands of babies being born with deformities. As the title suggests however, this production unfortunately handles the subject with all the subtlety of a sixth-form am-dram affair.

Mat Fraser's script attempts to chronicle the effects of thalidomide through the slapstick love story of Glyn and Katie, following them from school to adulthood, with Glyn putting their romance on hold until Katie can love him for himself rather than out of pity at his lack of full-length arms. The writing is too weak however to sustain the premise, and the gags too groan-inducingly bad ('talk to the flipper cause the face don't care/It's like a stripper with no pubic hair') to lift the plot above the mundane.

Although the play is ostensibly a comedy, it's clear that Fraser intends to make a serious point here, but by following every fact about thalidomide with a dose of 'Carry On' humour he severely reduces the potential impact of the production. The puerile comedy seems to have an effect on the standard of acting too, with Anna Winslet maddeningly over-playing the part of Katie. This is not to say that humour can't be used as a means of tackling a contentious issue - witness Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci et al - but it needs a specific target and a desired effect other than to shock, neither of which are apparent in Thalidomide!!.

All of which makes for a frustrating evening's entertainment. Mat Fraser is an undeniably talented and charismatic actor/writer with plenty to say, but until he finds the right method to vent his justified anger, it is just talent is going to waste.

Till 12 February 2006.