REVIEW: BOIL at The Hope Theatre/ Camden Fringe 6 – 9 August 2023

‘The premise is interesting, but the audience aren’t yet won over’

Running at just over an hour, BOIL is a high intensity, high energy dark dramedy following two crooks and their slowly unravelling scam. The very essence of the play is self-destruction - through alcoholism, aggressive language, and acts of violence.

The set depicts a derelict office, littered with wine bottles and Marxist pamphlets: home to Carva, a mumbling, shaking prisoner fuelled by addiction. His ‘master’ is Frank, a slimey businessman who almost exclusively speaks in euphemism or rape-joke. It is obvious that these characters are villains, and they are portrayed well, with their anecdotes and quips accompanying their unpredictable mood-swings and matching physicality. Later, we meet Nina Beria, a curt threat to their operation whose blatant disgust matches ours, yet her slippery backstory and aggressiveness confusingly introduces her as an antagonist – leaving the audience unsure on who to root for.

There are some amusing running jokes: one being an ongoing, definitely racist ‘appreciation’ of reggae music, which offers a temporary diversion in Frank’s bigotry and diffused some tensions at various points in the play. Yet this also created a different kind of tension as the shocks-for-laughs novelty quickly runs dry.

The play goes between mumbled political references to outrageous brags of misogyny in mere moments. There is little middle ground, thus it’s difficult to settle into the play as we simply haven’t been invited in. To present villains at odds with each other, with no moral compass or consequences, is a tricky task – and BOIL unfortunately alienates the audience in their attempt.

Overall, BOIL needs simplification. There are too many confusing, unexplained tangents that bury the plot, as the audience are expected to try too hard to uncover it. The piece feels like an elongated first scene of a longer play, as the characters are strong, the premise is interesting, but the audience aren’t yet won over.

BOIL is written by TJGW Sigmund, and directed by Ava W. Stanley

Box Office: https://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/boil/

Reviewed by Anna Rastelli