Writer: Alison Carr
Director: Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder
A massive asteroid is heading towards Earth. There are a few hours left to make amends and revisit that old list of regrets. Or we could all just go down the local for a pint, a bit of company, and an evening packed with good-humoured rivalry at the pub quiz.
Box of Tricks have completely nailed the notion of pub theatre with this play/quiz mash-up, managing to seamlessly blend the two as successfully as they blend the comedy and heart-wrenching drama in Alison Carr’s The Last Quiz Night on Earth.
We are crammed into an intimate back room of a traditional pub on Cheetham Hill Road. Everyone’s been to the bar and there’s a buzz amongst the audience before the show even begins. Meriel Scolfield as landlady Kathy is so convincingly at home as she welcomes friends and neighbours, you soon forget you’re at a table with a bunch of strangers. There’s a totally believable shabbiness to it all, 80s music played on an ancient CD player, Quiz Master Rav (Matthew Khan) appearing from behind a gold tinsel curtain to The Final Countdown. We’ve already had to shove a folded beer mat under the wobbly table leg and save our quiz answer sheet from getting soaked in beer. It’s the real deal.
Quizzing starts, and as round one unfolds so do Kathy and Rav’s stories. Alison Carr has packed masses into this short play with her sharp, spare text. We learn so much about Kathy, Rav, and their two unexpected guests – ambitions, life choices, triumphs, regrets and jealousies. The mundanity of ordinary lives given extraordinary poignance. Carr’s script pieces together whole lives with snippets of information. It crackles with brilliant comedy and pulls you up sharp with its punchy dramatic revelations.
It’s a strong cast all round. Matthew Khan’s Rav has a fragile confidence that unravels as the final countdown really begins. Tilly Sutcliffe as Rav’s jittery ex-girlfriend Fran has perfect comic delivery, and Chris Hoyle’s moody Bobby fills the room with unease. But it’s Meriel Scholfield that holds everything together, as the archetypal and much-loved pub landlady – ‘the queen of her kingdom’ as Rav puts it. She’s relentlessly upbeat, yet pragmatic (“There’s no discounted drinks – if the World doesn’t end I’ll still have bills to pay tomorrow”). She seems so in control that it’s hard to believe the Derby Brewery Arms hasn’t really been her pub for the past thirty years.
The excellent cast embrace the realism and pace of the text and have some fun with the crowd. Those uncomfortable with audience participation shouldn’t be put off though. The Last Quiz Night on Earth is as immersive as theatre gets but at no point is anyone called on to respond or perform. In fact, you feel as comfortable as you would in your own local amongst old friends.
The show tours for the next few weeks, visiting plenty of other excellently selected venues. Each performance will have its own vibe. Here’s hoping the cast have as much fun with it as we all did at the Derby Brewery Arms tonight.
Runs until 26 February 2022 (and touring until 3 April 2022)
