A Play, a Pie and a Pint
Oran Mor, Glasgow
October 15-20

Script: Stagecraft: Performance:    

Billy is the warehouse manager of a stationery supply company who has obviously missed the in-service day when it was explained that potentially difficult dilemmas, should be pushed up or down the chain of command but never tackled personally. Janet the head of HR knows exactly what to do when Billy phones and tries to pass a human resources problem her way. She emails him the company’s staff policy document and invites him to interpret it with a view to resolving what she sees as, his problem. Janet, we feel, has never, ever missed an in-service day.

Billy has a second in command, gobby Lydia, who knows exactly what Billy should do about a controversial piece of information that’s been received, regarding a worker in the loading department; Billy should listen to, and follow her intemperate advice to the letter. Fortunately there’s Mary, a more moderate voice in the office, dispensing politically correct good sense. Exposed to these clashing opinions, the jokey, congenial manager has to choose a course of action that won’t reflect badly on the company and himself. A wrong decision, an ill-timed YouTube link or an inopportune word to the press, any of these could spell disaster. The important thing is not to panic…

Steven McNicoll’s Billy is the kind of big-hearted, stalwart employee found in every company. He does his job conscientiously, without any machinations, enjoys a laugh with his fellow workers but is unprepared for the big moral issue that has just dropped onto his unwelcoming, managerial lap. We like him. He enjoys being popular but this diminishes his authority when he attempts keep a certain member of his staff in line.

Nicola Roy’s Lydia is all presumptive, potty-mouthed opinion. Her arms, when not gripped across her chest nursing her next irascible barb, are thrust forward stabbing an opinionated finger. When making a point (which she frequently does) her ponytailed head stretches the tendons on her neck as if she were a ski jumper leaning into a leap. She is not a woman riven by uncertainty.

Helen MacKay’s Mary brings a more educated, reasoned view to the proceedings. She is prepared to think things through and is open to the possibility of doubt. Her informed opinion (she Googles) tries to moderate the strident excesses of her hot headed colleague. David Gerow has written a comedy drama (farce-like at times) that tackles disparate reactions to an unseen co-worker accused of a controversial crime. It is a sure-footed piece of writing that finds its all too believable humour in each employee’s efforts to do what they consider is the right thing, for the right reasons.
Worth stepping into this office.

David G Moffat