Neville’s Island

Apocalypse Neville

Neville’s Island

by Tim Firth

The Questors at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 14^th October

Review by Andrew Lawston

Four middle-class, middle-aged middle managers wash up on a tiny island in the Lake District, cut off from the mainland by fog, icy waters, and pike who, we are assured, are up to four feet long, and 30% jaw.

If the premise of Tim Firth’s 1992 play Neville’s Island sounds a little like a grown-up Lord of the Flies, a point which even the characters acknowledge from time to time, the crucial difference is that this is a comedy.  While it opens in highly dramatic fashion, as Neville and Gordon splash through the shallows to wash up on the shore, Gordon’s sarcastic recriminations quickly get the audience laughing along.

Their younger colleague Angus washes up shortly behind them, before birder Roy emerges from the trees, having come ashore elsewhere on the small island.

The comedic tone continues as the four men change out of wet clothes on stage, slapping themselves, on Neville’s advice, to get their circulation going, and it is only as the men begin to realise they may be stuck on the island for some time, and with no food, that their squabbling takes on a more pointed tone.

Alex Marker’s set is simply magnificent.  Having a body of water on stage feels like every production designer’s worst nightmare, but the rippling waters, complete with floating leaves, a gently bobbing slice of pizza, and a blast of dry ice every time a swimmer washes up on the gently sloping shore, add a degree of realism to the set, which is dotted with foliage, rocks and undergrowth, including one huge central tree in which Roy spends a large chunk of the play.

The actors roam freely over the lake’s shore in thick jumpers and sturdy walking gear courtesy of Anne Gilmour’s functional costume design.  The four are on a team-building weekend, it emerges, and Julian Casey’s deceptively placid Neville, has led them astray from their intended route by overthinking the clues to their next checkpoint.

Gordon, played with great gusto by Adam Kimmel, needles Neville for his errors, just as he makes fun of Roy for his religious faith and Angus for his apparent lack of humour and for his rucksack full of unused gadgets which turn out to be inadequate to the survival situation in which the colleagues find themselves.

While initially appearing good-natured and mild-mannered, if a little awkward, Adam Hampton-Matthews is thoroughly convincing as Angus, as the happily-married Distribution Manager begins to unravel after being the continual target of Gordon’s jokes.  Meanwhile, Willo Johnston plays Roy apparently as a wide-eyed innocent who treats the group’s predicament as an excuse to go birdwatching.  But as even Gordon refrains from making certain jokes at Roy’s expense, a hidden grief is hinted at.

Whether due to first-night jitters, or simply the difficulty in timing how long it takes four men to change out of wet clothes, Neville’s Island ends up running over its estimated run time of two hours and fifteen minutes, but Steve Fitzpatrick directs the action at a brisk pace throughout; whether the four men are playing “celebrity beach cricket” or discussing their colleague’s mental health crisis.

As the play’s action unfolds over two days and nights, complete with passing disco ferries and a fireworks display, Alasdair Graebner’s lighting design is put through its paces, and always maintains the illusion of being trapped in the great outdoors.  Jane Arnold-Forster’s sounds are similarly evocative, from birdsong to the gentle lapping of water.

Attention to detail makes this production of Neville’s Island a thoroughly immersive experience, while the four-strong performances make it a thoroughly entertaining production.  Even when some of the group’s antics verge on farcical – nailing an orange plate to a branch as a pitiful attempt at a flag to attract rescuers – the actors play it with absolute conviction, skirting any potential disbelief.

This is a compelling production of a great contemporary play.  Given some of the weighty subjects discussed, it would have been easy to turn in a “worthy” straight performance, or conversely to ham things up and play the show for laughs.  By performing the text with conviction, and allowing the humour to shine through naturally, Questors Theatre have created a bold and highly entertaining production.

Andrew Lawston, October 2023

Image courtesy of Questors