THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Vulcan 7’ (Richmond Theatre)

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Vulcan 7’ 

(Richmond Theatre)

Gary Savage (Adrian Edmondson) and Hugh Delavois (Nigel Planer) were students at RADA together. Now in their sixties, they meet in an Icelandic wasteland, on the set of a fantasy movie. Hugh has had a plodding career but has landed the role of Vulcan’s butler - a small but regular role - and he's making his seventh film for the franchise. Gary is a one-time Hollywood A-lister who has fallen on lean times, and is playing a guest monster with four hours in make-up, a generic character name, and one word in the script.

Sparks fly inside the trailer as old wounds are opened. Leela (Lois Chimimba), a runner, attempts to keep the peace between them, but outside the trailer things are not going to plan either: the director’s gone AWOL, the catering truck’s on the wrong side of a ravine, and the volcanic activity is growing more and more lively by the minute…

Starring and scripted by ‘Young Ones’ (now ‘Old Ones’), Edmondson & Planer, this play was right up my street, and seemingly drew on Edmondson’s experiences on ‘The Last Jedi’ (which also provided the inspiration for a very funny call-sheet prepared by him in the programme). I saw it on its opening night at Richmond having been touring for a few weeks, and in the row in front of me were Jennifer Saunders and Ben Elton. The action was all in Delavois’ trailer, which was on hydraulics to indicate the volcanic activity. Very funny dialogue between the two of them, with Planer as the ‘straight man’ to the anarchic Edmondson, who got all the best jokes and physical comedy. As the third member of the cast, Chimimba (soon to be seen in Series 11 of ‘Doctor Who’), found herself having to keep order between the arguing thespians, as the comedy slowly became a tragedy. Highly recommended !

‘Vulcan 7’ is at the Richmond Theatre until 27^th October 2018, then tours to the Malvern Festival Theatre (29^th October-3^rd November 2018) and the King’s Theatre Edinburgh (5^th-10^th November 2018).

Links: Interview with Ade Edmondson (Radio 2, 16/09/2018)