This surprisingly heartfelt political comedy is really a much deeper play in disguise. It’s about nepo baby and Londoner Perdita – daughter of the former home secretary and the new MP for the fictional Lancashire town of Ardenton. Many broad and slightly predictable jokes about the north/south divide ensue. But there’s also real passion and purpose here, which reveals itself in a subplot about the worrying lack of shelter and support for the LGBTQ+ community in the north. Both strands have potential. But with the play in its current form, the heartfelt stuff undermines the comedy, the laughs undercutting the passion.
It’s the comedy that wins through in the opening exchanges, particularly in the scenes between a clueless Perdita (an archly comic Phoebe Batteson-Brown) and her enjoyably eccentric constituents. There’s a touch of Victoria Wood about Rachael Hilton – a talented comedian who imbues a parade of quirky local characters with a wonderfully gruff sort of charm. The best of the bunch is “Big Chelle”, who is grimly determined to install a tanning bar in her strip club and has absolutely no time for Perdita’s fancy politics (“What’s that got to do with my titty bar?”).
It’s all fairly good fun and directed with vigour and a bit of a twinkle from Kayla Feldman. About halfway through the play, heavier plot developments land when queer teenager Alex (Hilton) comes to Perdita’s surgery looking for help and protection. The scenes between communications manager Dan (Eoin McKenna) and an anxious and frightened Alex have real tenderness and depth to them. They’re nuggets of earnestness in an otherwise fairly lighthearted affair.
The show has been co-written by lead actors Batteson-Brown and McKenna, who grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and seems to be writing from the heart. Dan is a given a lot of on-the-nose speeches about the hypocrisy of politics and the very real need for help in a town where the high streets are decimated and the schools drastically declining. Some important issues are raised – the starting point, perhaps, for a much more serious and substantial work.
• Right Dishonourable Friend is at The Vaults, London, until 18 February. Vault festival continues until 19 March.
