Belfast Famine (An Gorta Beag), Pentameters Theatre

One of London's quirkiest little theatres is the Pentameters in Hampstead. It was set up 47 years ago by the glamorous blonde Leonie Scott-Matthews who is still glamorous and blonde and skips, sequinned, onto the stage in a space that feels like a maiden aunt's well-stuffed front room, to welcome punters to her shows and to throw forward to what's coming next.

The Pentameters' latest offering is Belfast Famine written and directed by John Dunne. It has a beautifully evocative set (the programme note includes a thank you to The Flask pub for lending furniture) depicting a rooming house in Belfast during the Irish famine of 1879. Things start well enough when a strange man with a strong Cork accent turns up at the house with a briefcase of books and stops to play pretty notes on the piano. Alas, the play - like his playing - continues in too low a key. 

There are just four characters in Belfast Famine: a landlady hiding a dark secret, a priest without faith, a local pimp who's all bark and no bite, and a reforming prostitute turned laundry-maid. All  bristle with possibility but are insufficiently developed by script or actors.  The background of famine should provide tension, and enough is said about the inability of the Irish to grow potatoes for us to know everyone is starving and the men are all skedaddling to Liverpool and New York with vague promises to send money home, but it's more information than drama. 

In conclusion: A night at Pentameters is fun in itself. We sit in armchairs or on brightly decorated bench seats and it's like enjoying a home entertainment. The cast: Damian Regan, Morag Carter, Mary Tynan and Mark Moore does its best, but it was Scott-Matthews topping and tailing the show that we most enjoyed.  

References

Pentameters Theatre, 28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 6TE. 0207 435 3648