Carry On Compulsion - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Carry On Compulsion – A NEW stage show phenomenon currently touring the UK lit up Westcliff’s antique Palace Theatre with its riotous line up of extreme characterisations.

Carry On Compulsion - A NEW stage show phenomenon currently touring the UK lit up Westcliff’s antique Palace Theatre with its riotous line up of extreme characterisations.

A NEW stage show phenomenon currently touring the UK lit up Westcliff’s antique Palace Theatre with its riotous line up of extreme characterisations.

Doc Doc, a hit in 37 countries, presents a lively line up of all-too recognisable OCD archetypes, each with its own strain of repetitive behaviour.

So many powerful ensemble pieces take place in one space: the intensity of a confined zone within which action builds, all the more ideal for the testing of social relations and niceties.

Here, it’s the waiting room of Dr Cooper: a renowned specialist in obsessive-compulsive disorders, who is running late.

The patients’ codes of behaviours gradually unknit and reform as the wait for their respective appointments builds tension.

If the room forces them together, the characters are kept mathematically paced by Ryan Earle’s truculent, but puckish London cabbie Lee, who is an arithmomaniac, but also something of a chorus through the show.

Gareth Brierley’s Tourette’s is given to hilarious effect in his foul-mouthed character Fred: “Fukkoffsunnovvabitch!” he hollers when Lee joins him in the waiting room, quickly followed by, ‘Sorry, I have Tourette’s.’ His gesticulations are great physical comedy, as unexpected and strident as all besuited frenzies, whilst Bob, played by Leon Stewart, attempts to jump and hop over lines on the floor to amusing effect.

Julia J Nagel is excellently ‘Mrs Doyle’-like in her pantomimic religious zealotry peppering her fear of leaving utilities on – a compulsion fired up by the group’s decision to play a game of Monopoly.

We sink into the rhythm of these idiosyncrasies, the ticks, repeated words, gestures, and hand washing leitmotifs that ebb and flow according to the emotional intensity of the moment, all the while becoming purposefully irritating– a good reminder that the play is attending to a portrayal of naggingly pervasive mental health.

In a digitally mediated and isolating world, the fact that Doc Doc’s characters engage in convivial effort and communication with one another is a cheering message, whilst the devilish power of the compulsions proves that all good comedy needs a darkly serious undercurrent.

REPORT BY SOPHIE SLEIGH-JOHNSON

Picture: What’s Up Doc? Pic: Mark Senior Photography

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