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Up N’ Under
By John Godber
Directed by Rob Chambers
At Circle Theatre
7300 W. Madison
Forest Park, IL
Call 708-771-0700, tickets $24 with a
$2 discount for seniors and students
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission
Through October 21, 2007
British sports comedy loses American audiences
Despite director Rob Chambers terrific staging of the rugby match and several strong performances, John Godber’s Up N’ Under doesn’t deliver enough laughs to hold up. The sports play is part Bad News Bears and part Full Monty with shades of Rocky slightly hinted. Full of male locker room bravado and braggadocio, Up N’ Under never rang true for me.
Maybe because the premise, an ex-pro rugby player, Arthur (Andrew J. Pond) brags to an old rival (now a coach), Reg (Jeremy Young) that he could train any amateur rugby team in only five weeks to beat Reg’s top seated rugby team. Why would he place such a bet? It is never made clear. And, he literally bet his house or 3,000 pounds that the team he trains will beat Reg’s team. He lets Reg pick the team for him to coach. Reg pick’s the worst team, The Wheatsheafs—one that has never won a rugby game in Yorkshire. They can only muster only 4 players (7 is a full rugby team) for most games.
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When Arthur meets the Wheatsheaf Arms players, they are not interested in being coached or physically conditioned since they only play rugby as an excuse to go drink Guinness after the game. Playwright John Godber never provides Arthur enough persuasive dialogue to get the losers motivated yet somehow all four out of shape players agree to train for a challenge match. This is an incredulous plot. These amateurs are blue collar working class blokes who mysteriously and instantly become motivated to run 3 miles then start a workout regimen at a fitness center run by Hazel (Mira Vasiljevic) the ex-wife of a rugby pro. No way. The Full Monty guys desperately need money to feed their families and these guys apparently have no pressing need to be top rugby players.
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Much of the play shows the 5 players (add Arthur) straining to get in shape, as if in 5 weeks they could miraculously gain the conditioning necessary to compete with the best team in the area. Rugby must be an easy game to learn since all it takes is a few weeks of running and weight training to become a top team. Really!
Most of the play runs on this thin premise with bland cliché ridden pub talk and crude bravado. Add the uneven and irritating English cockney accents and the play suffers. The outstanding staging and the reenactment of the game (which, thankfully has a nice twist ending) salvages the show. If there is a reason to see Up N’ Under, it is the sheer energy of the ensemble. I liked the work of Shane Hill as the over weight butcher, Frank; with Stephen Loch’s sincere turn as the high school teacher, Phil. Andrew J. Pond, as Arthur, was believable as a rugby player. Tim Frank the young player Tony and Jeremy Young as the aging auto mechanic each delivered some fine moments. Mira Vasiljevic, as Hazel, had the unfortunate task to deliver several commenting monologues in verse that became incomprehensible due to her mumbled and shaky accent.
The sheer energy and creativity of the second act scenes makes Up N’ Under tolerable. I’d scrap the British accents with this cast and I’d cut parts of act one to make the work a shorter and faster paced piece.
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 14, 2007
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