All Saints review, The King's Head

It's a bit of a give away when a theatre of 100 people fills so quickly that a play starts early, which is what happened at the King's Head this evening. There's a buzz around All Saints. The joyous responses of the audience throughout the action was infectious, overriding moments when too much exposition created lulls, and underscoring scenes of pure slapstick that built to a rapturous crescendo.

All Sinners

All Saints is a dilapidated church in Peckham, an inner London suburb with a rich African tradition. The new vicar, Stella, a blonde and rather gormless out-of-towner, is losing the battle to attract the area's committed Christians away from evangelical expression. When Trissia, one of her eight loyal  parishioners, faces deportation to Sierra Leone, Stella offers to conduct a marriage of convenience. She ropes in Casimir the Polish handyman, but just as an EU passport is within reach, Casimir gets cold feet. He has an uncomfortable longing for the little homeless boy in the graveyard... Instead, it is the swivel-eyed Russian, Bucholz, who marries the African business woman, and within weeks they set up a production line of sham marriages, partly to raise funds for the Church roof.  When the Church Warden, the bullish Marti, decides she's sick of people who can't speak English properly, trouble looms.

Nicola Baldwin's play is richly peopled and bubbles with warmth and humour.  It takes a while to bed in, partly because the vicar is too silly and naive and therefore unbelievable, but when the secondary characters take over the storyline the piece gels. Trissia and her potential husbands are terrific, and Marti - presented here a cross here between Mrs Danvers and Clare Balding - constantly makes an impact, even if OTT.  The plot, like the characters, grows and unfolds, filling the space. What magic might Director Helen Sheals work with a bigger stage where both cast and story can breathe?

In conclusion: All Saints has shades of England People Very Nice and a couple of Shakespearean plot twists, all of which makes a great couple of hours entertainment. Special mentions to Michelle Greenidge as Trissia, Christopher Lane as Casimir and Peter Clements who plays Bucholz in delicious Transylvanian mode.

References
The King's Head, Tickets

The King's Head,  115  Upper Street, London N1  1QN        Run ends 18 August