Clyde’s @ Donmar Warehouse...

Last Thursday night Stuart and I went to see Lynn Nottage’s delicious play Clyde’s at Donmar Warehouse in London's glitzy West End.

 

Half an hour in, someone in our row had a fit and the show needed to be stopped. I do wonder if the medical emergency was caused in some small part by all the laughter at what was happening on stage. Yes, this was a very funny comedy.

 

Clyde (Gbemisola Ikumelo, her off of Famalam) plays a monstrous boss who manages a sandwich shop in Pennsylvania staffed by young ex-cons. She runs a very tight ship, terrorising her workers with threats and bullying them to not smile, work harder and "just make the God-damned sandwiches you are damn-well told to make."

 

Much of the humour comes in the nascent defiance by the workers lead by Montrellous (beautifully played by Giles Terera). He encourages them a la Dead Poets Society to dream big and create new masterful sandwiches - creations of their own design.

 

Clyde isn’t interested in these fanciful designs though, or indeed in any of the food in general, as she has her own problems - dodgy investors to contend with. Don’t even mention garnish to her.

 

The three others staffers apart from Montrellous are played by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjó, Sebastian Orozco, and Patrick Gibson. Gibson plays newbie Jason who despite being inked with white-supremacist tatts goes on the longest journey of the three from initially “disrespecting the lettuce!” to rebuilding his self-respect and achieving the perfect sandwich.

 

Lynette Linton’s production is delightful. Movement director Kane Husbands makes the actors and the food positively dance around the kitchen. Peppers are theatrically sliced, iceberg lettuce lovingly scattered, and mayo squeezed with delight.

 

With its tasty jokes and redemptive story, Clyde’s may not be the most complex platter in the West End, but Linton's production is certainly the most mouth-watering.