Fully Committed - Becky Mode
RATING * * * * *
Directed by Mark Setlock
Menier Chocolate Factory, Until 15th Nov
Kevin Bishop plays Sam Peliczowski in Becky Mode's imaginative, seventy-five minute monologue, as a struggling actor working in the basement of a fashionable Manhattan restaurant taking booking calls from demanding customers. However, there's one catch. Being such a popular destination, the restaurant is always 'fully committed'. So Sam is left in difficult, sometimes compromising situations.
Bishop manages to people the stage with these diverse characters through his mesmerizing ability to impersonate. From irritating co-workers and the erratic Head Chef, to callers such as his gentle widowed father, quirky foreigners, old-money old ladies, Naomi Campbell's ballsy Australian assistant, Sam's 'honest' actor friend and his shady agent, Bishop brings the stage to life.
Mark Setlock, the original Sam Peliczowski in the 1999 New York premiere, directs the show to convey the frenetic nature of Sam's initially un-seemingly pressured workplace. Having to deal with bribers, beggars and bullies, Sam's patient and understanding nature prevents him from losing his temper.
The atmosphere is somewhat tense, the audience having to concentrate so we do not miss a word of the fast-paced script. The ending however, is a happy one, so I left feeling that Sam's life can only improve.
A truly absorbing, witty, light and still-current comedy, Bishop should be highly commended for this tour-de-force and his impressive ability to switch so effortlessly between characters.
RATING * * * * *
Directed by Mark Setlock
Menier Chocolate Factory, Until 15th Nov
Kevin Bishop plays Sam Peliczowski in Becky Mode's imaginative, seventy-five minute monologue, as a struggling actor working in the basement of a fashionable Manhattan restaurant taking booking calls from demanding customers. However, there's one catch. Being such a popular destination, the restaurant is always 'fully committed'. So Sam is left in difficult, sometimes compromising situations.
Bishop manages to people the stage with these diverse characters through his mesmerizing ability to impersonate. From irritating co-workers and the erratic Head Chef, to callers such as his gentle widowed father, quirky foreigners, old-money old ladies, Naomi Campbell's ballsy Australian assistant, Sam's 'honest' actor friend and his shady agent, Bishop brings the stage to life.
Mark Setlock, the original Sam Peliczowski in the 1999 New York premiere, directs the show to convey the frenetic nature of Sam's initially un-seemingly pressured workplace. Having to deal with bribers, beggars and bullies, Sam's patient and understanding nature prevents him from losing his temper.
The atmosphere is somewhat tense, the audience having to concentrate so we do not miss a word of the fast-paced script. The ending however, is a happy one, so I left feeling that Sam's life can only improve.
A truly absorbing, witty, light and still-current comedy, Bishop should be highly commended for this tour-de-force and his impressive ability to switch so effortlessly between characters.