By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Friday 14 June 2024, opens 25 June and runs through 10 August 2024 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

Corden writes the final episode of the beloved comedy Gavin and Stacey this Christmas and here stars in a timely drama as the titular constituent who seeks help from his hard-pressed MP.

• Read on for reasons including how you should buy a ticket if you want to see Corden stretch himself as an actor and for the brilliance of Maxwell Martin

Corden plays Alec in this Joe Penhall (Mood Music, Old Vic) play who is installing a security camera and alarm in the constituency office of Monica, a woman he used to go to school with, and who is now the MP representing the area.

It’s 12 years since Corden last trod the boards in the award-winning comedy One Man, Two Guvnors at the nearby National Theatre, for which he won a Tony, and the good news is that he’s lost none of his ability to totally inhabit a character.

There are occasional laughs but Alec is a very different part to the impish and lovable out-of-work skiffle player Francis in Guvnors and is instead a former Afghanistan veteran with mental health problems who is struggling to see his children after falling out with his ex-wife.

Anna Maxwell Martin (Constellations, Vaudeville Theatre) is perhaps best known for TV work including Line Of Duty and Motherland, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, and is the best reason to see this show with a sympathetic performance as an empathetic MP who becomes the target of abuse.

Less convincing though is parliamentary protection officer Mellor played by Zachary Hart who is far less ready to compromise and is so broadly written that the final act feels forced, unbelievable and lacking in subtlety.

Author Penhall joins us in the audience tonight and is perhaps best known for his Olivier-winning Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon and mental health drama Blue/Orange which we saw at a revival at the nearby Young Vic starring Daniel Kaluuya and David Haig in 2016 which is perhaps the obvious touchstone here.

Penhall explains the draw of this story to him in the programme: ‘I wanted to know why people still wanted to do the job when it was becoming so obviously dangerous. So I started talking to MPs I knew and one of them said to me: ‘Because I have to. Because it’s my job. I can’t pick and choose who i work for.’

It’s a captivating springboard but unfortunately the script lacks spark and has the feel of an idea formed after the murder of MP Jo Cox in 2015 and revisited after the murder of MP Sir David Amess in 2021.

Director Matthew Warchus (Lungs, Old Vic) gives us a simple constituency office set with an audience on both sides that draws us into this 3-hander and the cut and thrust is interesting and predominantly mildly diverting.

Buy a ticket if you want to see Corden stretch himself as an actor and for the brilliance of Maxwell Martin but don’t expect the warm feelgood glow of the much anticipated Gavin and Stacey reunion this Christmas.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Old Vic Tickets
• Have you seen James Corden onstage before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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