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

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

The Albatross 3rd and Main

The Albatross 3rd and Main | Theatre review
14 January 2017
Tarn Rodgers Johns
Avatar
Tarn Rodgers Johns
14 January 2017

After a three-week stint in Brighton, playwright and director Simon David Eden brings his tale of a rag-tag trio who come into possession of some potentially lucrative roadkill to London’s Park Theatre.

The story unfolds as a comedy of errors as the men try to patch together a plan to persuade the local Native American reservation to buy the gently rotting “Eric” the eagle without getting caught by the Feds; however, as the play goes on it becomes apparent that what the group have has become an albatross around their necks.

Before the performance starts the set design does a great job of transporting the audience from Finsbury Park to Anytown, USA: mason jars full of gherkins and pickled beets line the walls, upturned crates are used as makeshift tables and a chalkboard that reads “The soup of the day is Budweiser” hangs above the till. Theatregoers are also greeted with original music by Dirty Diary, perfectly delivering “garage blues with a spaghetti western twang”.

The often funny dialogue is hampered by the fact that the performers’ non-native American accents cannot quite keep up with the pace, somewhat dampening the illusion. This is a shame, because the acting itself is very good: Hamish Clark does an excellent job as the anger-prone Gene who has been “chewed up and spat out” by his ex, and Charlie Allen’s Spider blends comic swagger with a darkly arrogant edge very well. Andrew St Clair-James’s Lullaby is a gentle giant who serves to remind the audience of the play’s namesake by frantically reciting The Rime of the Ancient Mariner when frightened or nervous.

What viewers don’t get is context, and this is not so much because The Albatross 3rd & Main all takes place in one room, but because the characters lack depth. Who are they, and what’s actually supposed to be likeable about them, if anything? It’s not even particularly clear in what kind of shop the scene is set (if, indeed, it is a shop). This particular fact could be saved if the allegory was strong enough, but whatever social commentary there is gets lost under layers of dialogue and the nod to Coleridge’s epic poem is only half-hearted, not really extending much past a dead bird and some bad luck.

★★★★★

Tarn Rodgers Johns
Photos: Sacha Queiroz

The Albatross 3rd and Main is at Park Theatre from 10th January until 4th February 2017, for further information or to book visit here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Typical at Soho Theatre

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild

Michael Higgs
Read More

Living Record Festival: Ain’t No Female Romeo

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More

West End Musical Drive In Online

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Hymn at the Almeida Theatre Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Songs for a New World

★★★★★
Sophia Moss
Read More

Night Tree at Pavilion Dance South West Online

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

The Color Purple – At Home at Curve Theatre Online

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Tarn Rodgers Johns

The Albatross 3rd and Main

★★★★★

Dates

10th January - 4th February 2017

Price

£10-£18

Links & directions

TwitterFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Swordsman
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Handsome
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Jumbo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Cirque du Soleil – Amaluna at the Royal Albert Hall | Theatre review
Written on Skin at the Royal Opera House | Opera review