Review: Hughie (rating 2/5)
With a cast consisting of Edinburgh Comedy Award winning actor Phil Nichol alongside Whose Line Is It Anyway veteran Mike McShane, you may expect Hughie to be a comedy. If you do, you will leave the theatre disappointed. Likewise if McShane is your main reason for seeing the play, you may also want to reconsider, as he is very much the supporting actor in a play that is little more than a monologue for a large part of the proceedings.
Smith, a compulsive gambler played by Nichol, arrives back at the hotel he has taken up residency in. For years he has told elaborate stories and bragged about his gambling prowess to Hughie, the receptionist, but Hughie is now dead, and in his place is Hughes, played by McShane. Hughes may look similar to his predecessor, but the similarity ends there. Hughes does not strike up any real conversation with him and seems oblivious to Smith’s attempts to befriend him.
Without his long time companion, Smith is the entertainer with no one to entertain. He is just a lonely person with no wife and no children and no one waiting to see him. He starts to see the hotel and himself in a different light.
It’s a great premise, but the big problem is that it never really gets beyond this. The absence of two-way dialogue or narrative progress illustrates the central theme of how our lives are shaped by the people we meet, and how we are changed when they are not there, but does not make for great drama.
When the lights go down at the end of the 45 minute production you’re left with the feeling that you’re only part way through the story and the more interesting part is yet to come. Nichol gives a great performance as Smith, but the play ends without ever really feeling like it’s started.
Gilded Balloon Teviot, to 26 August (not 12)
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