A very strange show indeed was Adam: The History Of Man. I am not quite sure at all what to make of it. Certainly the premise was interesting enough: that of a scientist having found a way to bring long-dead humankind back to life to learn the truth of our development, rather than relying on 'archeological guess-work'. However the execution of this did seem rather laboured and quite frankly, unfunny.
Written and directed by Chris Delaney, we are introduced to Professor Potty Potts ((Danny Riley), who, I am assuming should have been the archetypal caricature of the 'mad professor'. He seemed, looked and talked perfectly normal and rationally and his character was quite 'ordinary'. The only concession to ludicrousness was his silly wig, which simply did not go with a beige jacket and tie. He also seemed quite bored by his continual bringing back to life and 'freezing' again as he pointed his 'laser gun' at the actor who played Adam (Ed Hall). Hall had the hardest task of the evening, as he was required to be a man from several different ages of our existence on the planet, right from primeval cave-man, through the first farmers and settlers, a Roman Soldier, a peasant from the 'Dark Ages', a German soldier during WW2 and others. Armed with nothing more than a white pair of shorts, and a couple of minimalist costume concessions for each phase of his 'development' Hall proved to be a versatile acor who was capable of bringing comedy, realism and pathos to his characters. For some reason though - possibly due to a very weak script - his ability was constantly being reigned in.
The play lasted one hour and in that time Riley went from a scientist giving a lecture to a judge putting Adam- ie: Mankind - on trial, meaning that there was a huge shift in both premise and focus of the script, which simply didn't make any sense, taking us into another 'realm' altogether more serious. For this section, Riley wore not a judge's wig, but a 17th century Fop's wig, this again being the only change to his cool and rather unemotional character. The various incarnations of Adam became gradually more serious as the play progressed, and indeed the whole idea of comedy was forgotten at one point, when Adam reveals his role as a member of the German army and reveals his girlfriend at that time to have burned in the chimney flames because she was Jewish.
Watching the format of 'introduction to the next era' and 'bringing Adam back to life for his next section in history' was formulaic and predictable. There was nowhere near enough variation of pace or dynamic to hold our interest, and ultimately it was a rather disappointing and confusing watch. Leaving the theatre I didn't know whether what I had witnessed was supposed to have been humorous (although we did certainly laugh a few times, it was not especially funny, even at the start), a cri-du-coeur to future generations to take note of history's mistakes ("mankind is greedy and selfish and leaves the consequences of his actions for later generations"), or a curious, rather pedestrian, and incoherent mix between the two.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 22/7/19
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