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Neville's Island, Highbury Little Theatre, Sutton Coldfield
May 9 2008 By John Slim
TIM Firth's dark comedy divides neatly into a play of two distinct halves: you get the laughs first, then you start to feel distinctly uncomfortable.
It's the story of four men marooned on an island in the Lake District during a character-building exercise and their differing characters are well delineated in Liz Parry's pleasing production.
Neville, the team leader, is a caring worrier, Angus is surely a former Boy Scout, prepared for anything and with a knapsack full of gadgets to prove it.
Roy is the God-fearing Christian bird-watcher recovering from a mental breakdown. And Gordon, a selfish self-centred sneering atheist, is the cat among the pigeons who have come unintentionally to roost on a little bit of land surrounded by water.
There were occasional uncertainties on the first night, but in general Peter Molloy, Richard Irons, Rob Hicks and Nigel Higgs carried the story satisfactorily.
The production runs to May 17.