REVIEW: PARLOUR SONG by Jez Butterworth at The Golden Goose 19 – 30 Nov 2024

‘See it and weep - with laughter.’ ★★★★

Two men stand back-to-back, cheek by jowl, in a rectangular, plywood frame. This is Ned and Dale. They live cheek by jowl in a suburban hinterland, in matching houses that back on to each other. Ned, played with fantastic comic timing by David Houston-Luck has terrific stage presence. He’s a demolitions expert and spends a lot of his time rewatching his most dramatic explosions on video as “redundant” estates and old buildings are blasted to smithereens. Dale, his ‘helpful’ friend, and neighbour, employs an army of Kosovans to run his car wash businesses and is played straighter by Paul Bolchat. The dynamic is a bit like Del Boy and Rodney in Only Fools and Horses but with deeper conversations. There’s banter, lots of sharing of hopes, fears, and dreams. But Ned can’t sleep, his possessions start to mysteriously disappear, and his once blissful marriage is ailing.

What we see on the surface is not what’s going on in the hearts of our characters. They lead successful lives, have money and nice homes with settled family relationships. There are lots of possessions and barbecues, but what pulses beneath the comfort and ease of settled suburban life is desire, deceit, paranoia, and terror; terror of age, terror of life passing and terror of erasure. Everything has its time and everything moves on - including the word parlour and all it denotes. With Ned, the spectre of age and death loom large, symbolised by the diminishing of conjugal relations, fat spread and hair loss (you must suspend your imagination here because Houston has a thick head of hair). In a sense, these are familiar cliches, not at all new - but in the hands of Butterworth they take on the scope and breadth of Greek drama.

Ned’s wife Joy, inexplicably dressed as an anime sex bot is unnervingly performed by Joanna Nevin who channels her best Stepford Wife. She also makes a brief appearance as Lynne, Dale’s wife. Joy is the least fleshed out of the characters but has a clear dramatic function as siren and temptress. What’s on the outside is Spanx and a plastic apron but what rages inside is an unquenchable thirst and wild, sexual desire not being met by Ned. Skilled at blowing up buildings he may be, but there are few eruptions in the bedroom. And while the rain refuses to fall, a perfect storm brews between these dissatisfied neighbours, each treading existential waters. 

This dark suburban comedy by multi-award-winning Jez Butterworth, gives mega tonnes of laughter and active entertainment. The writing is joyful, and this production is deftly directed by Ben Grafton of Drama Impact. His vision is expanded by resourceful and effective production design by Gulfen Ozdogan and lighting and sound design by James Michael Maltby. If you’ve ever wondered about the connection between Eric Clapton and cunnilingus, then see this and weep - with laughter.

PARLOUR SONG by Jez Butterworth at The Golden Goose 19 – 30 Nov 2024

Box Office https://www.goldengoosetheatre.co.uk/whatson/parlour-song

Cast & Creatives

Jo Nevin

Joy

David Houston

Ned

Paul Boichat

Dale

Ben Grafton

Director

James Michael Maltby

Sound & Light Design

Gulfem Ozdogan

Production Design