The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Pig Farm at St James Theatre

Pig Farm at St James Theatre | Theatre review
29 October 2015
Thomas Davidson
Avatar
Thomas Davidson
29 October 2015

Penned by Greg Kotis, co-writer of the 2001 satirical musical Urinetown, Pig Farm treads similar ground with a slightly different message. Alternately satirising capitalism, greed, social irresponsibility and the struggles of the common man, the play is quick to show us the path that humanity’s over consumption is leading us down. However, despite solid comedy beats and the best efforts of an abundantly capable cast, Pig Farm is transparent and consequently feels tiresome.

Set in a non-descript pig farm in small town USA, the show opens with a glut of worldbuilding. Farm owner Tom (Dan Fredenburgh) holds a grudge against the government and is struggling to make ends meet, despite his ever-growing herd. His dutiful and desperate wife Tina (Charlotte Parry) wants a child and Tim (Erik Odom) is a juvenile delinquent on probation who wants to prove that he’s a man. Thrown into this heady mix of economic depression and sexual frustration is Teddy (Stephen Tompkinson), an overly officious, and slightly inept, environmental officer who enjoys throwing his weight around whilst inspecting the farm.

This hefty chunk of exposition is, thankfully, largely delivered within the first act. However, where other writers might use the remaining stage time to flesh out such character silhouettes, Kotis seems content to recycle these initial insights until a bloody – and protracted – finale. When these caricatures aren’t being reinforced, Pig Farm instead see-saws between a thinly veiled commentary on environmental destruction by way of consumerism and a well-trodden depiction of small-town America, with Tina as a conflicted object of lust for Tom, Tim and Teddy.

It’s a shame that the characters are so two-dimensional as, at times, there are some viscerally funny moments of physical comedy and wordplay to be found within Kotis’s script. Tompkinson in particular shines, striking a great balance between understated physicality (a wry glance at Tina when discussing matters of immorality, for example) and the hapless musings of a self-important government official. Fredenburgh’s performance is also notable, playing the simple and apparently reformed juvenile delinquent to great effect. His role as Tom is enjoyable, if a little hackneyed, and his part in the show’s violent denouement is genuinely funny.

Ultimately, one of the show’s early lines speaks volumes: “Pot-bellied clouds out there,” Tom bemoans in the opening moments of Pig Farm. Pot-bellied indeed, as the show lumbers through the motions with little lasting impact.

★★★★★

Thomas Davidson

Pig Farm is on at the St James Theatre from 21st October until 21st November 2015, for further information or to book visit here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

National Theatre’s Connections Festival 2022 showcases young theatre talent across the UK

Sophia Moss
Read More

Evelyn at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World at Theatre Royal Stratford East

★★★★★
Natallia Pearmain
Read More

King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

This Is Not Who I Am/Rapture at the Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Thomas Davidson

Pig Farm at St James Theatre

★★★★★

Dates

21st October - 21st November 2015

Price

£15-£35

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Brian and Charles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • The End of the Night at Original Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Throne at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “We really wanted to create a cabbage gun”: An interview with David Earl and Chris Hayward stars of Brian and Charles
    Cinema & Tv
  • Flamenco Festival 2022 at Sadler’s Wells
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Black Bird
    ★★★★★
    apple
  • Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Viagra Boys – Cave World
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Adele lights up Hyde Park for BST Festival
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Fraser A Gorman at The Sebright Arms | Live review
Ludovico Einaudi – Elements | Album review