Miriam Gillinson
posted 22 January 2008

MahWaff’s aim to produce ‘challenging but accessible, entertaining but relevant’ work is achieved with minimum fuss in their touring production of Angry Young Man. This tight, irreverent play tells the story of struck-off surgeon Yuri’s immigration to London. Four actors relate his fairy-tale like adventures, effortlessly summoning up an eclectic range of characters and locations against a malleable black-box set.

Though neither play nor actors quite reach the depths suggested by the theme, they still generate enough warmth and energy to engage the audience and make them laugh. This sparky production – refreshingly devoid of pretension – proves a wonderful showcase for Ben Woolf’s confident and detailed writing and his company’s sharp and charming performances.

We open with four identically dressed male actors clustered centre stage, speaking in unison. The plot kicks off and the actors break apart, switching characters as the script demands. All four play protagonist Yuri at one point, and despite this fracturing, we quickly develop a strong image of the meek, but adventurous young immigrant. His is in fact the only character which remains constant – what’s really interesting is how those orbiting Yuri shift according to his narration. Everyone plays close to caricature – reality isn’t a pressing concern here – but comic stereotypes are still a useful tool for hinting at serious realities. Yuri is adopted by brash businessman Patrick whose vulgarity and misguided intentions are played for laughs, though hint at something darker. Gary Shelford pulls off the part with significant confidence and skill – he’s the real star in this show and is gifted some blinding one-liners. Nevertheless, though I can’t fault Shelford I do think a subtler interpretation might have left a little more space for unease and questioning.

This same quibble could be levelled at all the actors, who though impressively at ease with the play’s comic elements are perhaps wary of its darker implications. This propensity to find the comic is heightened by their shocking foreign accents: how to take an immigrant’s struggle seriously when he sounds like Borat? As actors and audience settled down, there was a little more heart to be found here. Alex Waldmann – lumbered with playing the only female character and thus a target for easy laughs – somehow hung onto a vulnerability that was arresting at moments. It is his interpretation of Yuri that I will remember – maybe his delicate physique encouraged empathy, but I believed his loneliness and anger when betrayed by Patrick.

It is Woolf’s careful observations and sharp, restrained wit which set this piece apart. He also has a keen sense for the stage’s potential and never misses a theatrical trick. Woolf’s directing is powerful yet never overbearing; the mimed sequences are slick to the point that the four actors sometimes feel like one. Woolf also plays cleverly on the gap between narration and reality, so that the characters’ narrations are glibly contradicted by the scenes that unfold beside them; whilst Yuri boasts of his flirting techniques, an apoplectic Yuri dances next to him.

The play does crumble a little towards the conclusion. This is inevitable and excusable, as the tongue in cheek nature of this show was never going to lead to a resounding close. The final sentiment – that Yuri now feels at home in this funny England he’s stumbled across – comes across as fairly trite. There’s enough promise here to forgive this lukewarm close, though, and I only hope MahWaff’s next production builds on the strong foundations laid down in this robust and entertaining show.

Till 2 February 2005