REVIEW: A GUY CALLED SCOTT CRAWLS UNDER A TABLE AND WON’T COME OUT at Barons Court 22 – 26 October 2024

‘Spirited but lacking’ ★★☆☆☆

Somewhere in the modern world, a man called Scott (Calum Balmforth) crawls under a table. After about 2 minutes, this is declared a crisis and two of his friends, Tom (Matthew Forrest) and Harmony (India Walton), take it upon themselves to intervene. Cue much drama.

Kitchen sink drama to be specific, and one that feels like everything was thrown to the wall – infidelities, pregnancy scares, suicide attempts, they’re all here and make the plot feel like a bingo card of cliches. This is mainly due to the fact that the characters themselves are not really developed beyond the problems they’re all struggling through, resulting in arcs where they simply blurt out revelations that bore, more often than they shock.

This isn’t helped by some uneven performances. On one hand Matthew Forrest as Scott’s housemate Tom gives a good account of himself, delivering an authentic portrayal of a worried but ultimately fed up friend to Calum Balmforth’s Scott. Unfortunately for Balmforth, Scott is a fairly uninteresting and unsympathetic character who spends most of the play moaning and offering faux-insights.

Perhaps because of this an unusually flat performance is given, and while this may have been a novel attempt to portray depression on stage it fails to be a compelling creative choice as it doesn’t lead to Balmforth’s character progressing in any clear direction, even on the rare moments when a secret is revealed by Tom or Harmony and Scott does crawl out from the table.

All this isn’t helped by a general direction to the play that feels like it pushes affairs constantly forwards, often setting a clumsy pace. Rarely was a moment allowed to sit and stew after a big character reveal or change of energy between those on stage before something else is rushed in to demand the audience’s attention. This is to say nothing of the abortive musical interludes which increase as the play nears its abrupt and unsatisfying ending, with little resolved or accomplished.

Ultimately this show is spirited but lacking, telling its story competently enough with some stumbles but forgetting that a longer look in the mirror is needed before this can become a story worth telling.

A Guy Called Scott Crawls Under a Table and Won't Come Out at Barons Court Theatre 22 – 26 October 2024

Written by Jonas Jamarik

Directed by Michael Gyngell

Produced by Kibo Productions

Reviewed by Harry Conway