Kafka meets 'Hollyoaks' in this comedy from Kieran Lynn, which transfers to Trafalgar Studios off the back of nine performances at fringe powerhouse the Finborough.
The set-up is beautifully simple: mumbling everybloke Arthur (Tom Bennett) and his gorgeous, self-important girlfriend Olivia (Florence Hall) are enjoying a nice day out in the local park when they're disturbed by weedy border guard Reiver (Marc Pickering), who proceeds to lay a line of red tape – both literal and figurative – between the two of them. It's the new border between their home country and its neighbour (both unnamed) and it's more than the Taser-toting Reiver's job is worth to let the hapless Arthur cross back over.
At best, Lynn takes an assured tilt at the dangers of intellectual incuriosity and political disengagement. The immediate reason the three are in this pickle is because of the affable Reiver's lemming-like jobsworthiness. But the wider issue is that the trio's utter disinterest in current affairs has led to the border being shifted without any of them having a clue why, despite an article about it in Olivia's newspaper. This is the smarter dimension to the play. Elsewhere there is too much generic bickering from the couple, while Bruce Guthrie's short but overlong production isn't exactly laden down with satirical bite; it's more silly than absurd.
Still, it throws up a fistful of chuckles and the cast is great, three very different comic performances bouncing off each other nicely. Credit to Trafalgar Studios's producers for going with their guts and snapping up this fun production – which only closed at the Finborough on August 7 – while it's still fresh.