Blank Verse
by James Kettle

Burton Taylor Theatre until Saturday 12th May

Four would-be poets meet to read and discuss each others' work in this piece of new writing by James Kettle. Three of them are engaged in a love triangle - Mary has left her husband Stan for the charismatic Joe - but Stan is determined not to drop out of the poetry society of which they are all members. At the evening's meeting he hopes to impress his ex-wife and her lover with his poetic skills.

The scenario provides plenty of scope for satire - the figure of the poet-mentor, always a feature of such societies, is transformed into a knitting granny whose comments on each character's work are variants on the theme of "very nice dear" - but the tone is light rather than sharp, and it is none the worse for that. Blank Verse is genuinely very funny - even if the odd joke is drawn out too long - and enthusiastically played. Rob Francis as Stan stood out in his handling of the comedy: his dead-pan delivery ensured him lots of laughs and made him convincing as the jilted husband who has lost all hope in life.

The writing is stronger on parody than on pathos: it's easy to laugh at the characters, but less easy to sympathise with them. This is not too much of a problem, however. Blank Verse is essentially a comedy about literary pretensions - a theme well-chosen for Oxford - and very enjoyable for its often hilarious take on how ridiculous people can be when they try to be deadly serious.

Emma Dummett, 8 / 5 / 01