As Piers Fawcett lies ill in hospital suffering from AIDS, he receives a visit from his best friend Tom. Their love-hate relationship takes a dramatic turn for the worse when a gun is brandished between the pair as a blame game ensues. They recount their past exploits in Kenya and reveal how they ended up in this hospital room. Interspersing their rows, a prim-and-proper nurse catches the randy eye of Piers.
Brought to the Fringe by Unfit productions, the show was directed by Darren Cheek and the work won the Sir Michael Caine award for new writing. The story builds up nicely. At first it is unclear what Piers’ illness is, but we start to learn more as the drama between the pair intensifies. The atmosphere bounces between angry and ready-to-pull-the-trigger to tender and how-did-we-get-to-this.
Piers and Tom seem like unlikely friends, however, with one being too serious and the other too frivolous. I couldn’t imagine a world in which they would ever become close and their relationship did not seem to work in the context of the play. Although the final revelation is described as ‘unexpected’ in the performance’s publicity, it was actually a little predictable. That could be because of the two characters who are ultimately as bad as each other and both equally to blame, so the ending comes as no real surprise.
Much of the show featured the wielding of a gun. This was a theme repeated so often it eventually dragged, although the final scene with the weapon was gripping. The dialogue between the pair was a little staid in parts and the nurse’s interjections seemed unnecessary and added little to the narrative. All in all, a good play, but nothing to make much noise about.
