Hell, for some at least, could be defined as being confined to an office; working day in day out from your cubicle, handling inconsequential streams of data and being forced to repeat the process until the day finally ends. But what if this was actually the case? Where the worst serial killers in our collective history were forced into the tedium of daily office life, with their souls being gradually crushed by a series of drawn out meetings, degrading (and sometimes downright abusive) managers, and a workload that’s never quite finished. “Fred, Ted, Jack & Harold” shows that life as a pencil pusher can be torture.
The staging itself is simplistic at the venue. A raised platform holds four uncomfortable looking revolving desk chairs, whilst down a short set of stairs is a desk accompanied by a plush recliner and an armchair. Harsh white lighting imitates the panel lighting you might find in a row of office cubicles, only occasionally switched in for a cool blue wash for the entrances of characters. The minimalist set design is alike to the clerical environment it tries to replicate; just plain enough to not distract you from the task at hand. Thankfully, this choice in somewhat drab scenery draws focus to the characters, allowing Matt Fox’s skilfully crafted and witty dialogue to shine through as the cast breathe life into the mundane small talk of office life.
The characters in the piece have been cherry picked from various periods of history and locations, all of which sharing the common ground of being mass murderers. Our 4 protagonists are Fred West, Ted Bundy, Jack The Ripper and Harold Shipman. The first act of the show saw our office quartet preparing their annual reviews as instructed by their line manager, Elizabeth “Liz” Bathory. After some inappropriate workplace conversation and brief talk of unionising, it became quite apparent that our characters have simply been going through the motions of the job for quite some time at this point, blissfully unaware of their pasts and simply waiting to clock out of work. Soon enough the employee reviews were in swing and after reading some gruesome personnel files including their previous occupations, the titular foursome are forced to confront what they have done and even worse, where they are.
The scripting itself is of good quality and paced quite well. Dialogue is sharp yet naturalistic, replicating the spiky nature of banter between co-workers. A dark comedy at heart, the piece never tries too hard to be funny, instead letting the natural chemistry of its characters do the work. Matt takes great care not to demonise the characters and turn them in to instantly dislikeable monsters, taking a more subtle approach by extracting common traits you might find in any colleague and molding them in to relatable personas. Some stereotypes are within the piece; the mature salaryman, the office playboys, the simpleton. For those who have worked in an office, certain exchanges within the piece will feel quite familiar; trying to fill the hours with small talk, until the conversation spirals so far out of control its impossible to tell what the original subject was. Some of the content does require having a basic level of background knowledge on the criminals it draws inspiration from, otherwise a small amount of the comedy can miss its mark. While suffering from the occasional lull in the second act, the actors command a strong level of attention, never letting the beat of the piece drop. What was quite disappointing about this piece however, was the ending. At its conclusion, the titular four descended in to a fit of bloodlust, which felt slightly rushed and almost clichéd for a piece based around serial killers. Although this does not detract from the piece, it does feel as though Matt Fox was almost unsure how to end the story itself.
Praise must be given to Peter Hynd’s portrayal of Fred; his blunt demeanor and country drawl lent a comedic simplicity to his interactions on stage, while his crude remarks opened up most of the laughs throughout the play. It should also be noted that Andrew Cunningham’s Harold and Molly Campbell’s Jack are thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Andrew played Harold with a level of ineffectual dignity which felt in equal parts admirable and despicable, while Molly’s portrayal of Jack as a cocksure rogue came across as effortlessly natural. Unfortunately, one performance that falls slightly flat was Sarah Bostock’s Liz. Whilst appearing to have a fantastic grasp of the character, she didin’t quite embrace the role as fully as she could have, her vocal presence not exactly commanding the respect of a manager from Hell itself.
All in all, “Fred, Ted, Jack & Harold” is a thoroughly enjoyable performance. You might leave The Casa feeling a little cut short from the ending, but the meat of the show itself is more than enough to make up for its shortcomings. I might suggest doing a little bit of research into serial killers before you go watch it though.
Reviewer - Lewis Joyce
on - 31/1/19
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