REVIEW: THE SOCIABLE PLOVER by Tim Whitnall at Old Red Lion Theatre 13 - 24 May 2025

'A deliciously, dark delight' ★★★★★   

The Sociable Plover is a rare British bird, now critically endangered, and part of the lapwing family. It’s the last British bird, Roy Tunt, an enthusiastic twitcher wants to tick off his list. As he tidies up in his birdwatcher’s den – Tanglewood One – deep in Suffolk and a storm crackles outside, a dishevelled stranger stumbles in. This uninvited working-class geezer in a suit and no tie, is as much of a lout as Tunt is a toff and a funny, random, awkward conversation ensues spanning bird life, relationships, the meaning of freedom, power tools and picnic food. But who is this stranger who calls himself ‘Dave?’ What is he doing here and why are the police currently combing the marshes for a white male?

The Sociable Plover, currently marking a twenty-year anniversary, is a deliciously dark delight of a play. It originally had its debut at the Old Red Lion in 2005 and was also adapted into a movie, The Hide, which won writer, Tim Whitnall, Best Script from the Writers Guild of Great Britain in 2010. It’s straight from the mould of one of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, or more recently, the kind of subversive drama you would expect from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside No 9. With two superb performances, pacey direction from Christa Harris and a belting storyline, The Sociable Plover is pure joy from start to finish

Jack Robertson (Artistic Director of the Old Red Lion) plays oddball, Tunt who still speaks to his wife in a picture frame, has a penchant for order and taste for chicken paste sandwiches. His sparring partner, Coronation Street’s Calum Lill, is a brooding, unpredictable, secretive presence. One character is slightly camp, the other seethes testosterone and the atmosphere between this bizarre Pinteresque pairing, which moves from curious to suspicious, fearful, and moving means that seventy-five-minute fly by. No pun intended.

From the collective nouns of birds “a parliament of owls...a deceit of lapwings” to the lyrical names of various species including their Latin names, there is a deep love of language embedded in this script. But holding together the witty dialogue, sequence of red herrings and tantalising reveals, is a terrific thriller that unfurls gradually as the story builds. 

Sound and lighting by Benedict Escale and the all-encompassing set work together to immerse the audience in this enclosed, slightly claustrophobic world where outside birds fly freely and helicopters circle. Reversals, double reversals, and a powerful, dramatic ending could not be more satisfying and show that great drama only gets better with age. Catch this rare sighting before it vanishes from these shores.

Photography: Alberto Roa

THE SOCIABLE PLOVER by Tim Whitnall

Old Red Lion Theatre

Islington

13 - 24 May 2025

BOX OFFICE https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/the-sociable-plover.html