Theatre

Frank Incensed

Alan Hindle | Friday 5 August, 2011 18:36

Frank’s idea of heaven is finding a free naan bread he has only to pick off the bit a car drove over to enjoy. Stacey is his virginal and- for putting up with Frank-saintly girlfriend. God is the presumptious neighbour Who nips by to borrow her womb without asking. Stacey is immaculately knocked up, and so, in similar spirit to His dating skills, God sends round His best angel, Lucifer, to offer advice. The writing in Frank Incensed is frequently sharp and observant and the performances funny, but there are at least three different plays going on here. Maybe it’s the holy trinity of acting styles. Frank is a 2D, cartoonish blokey bloke, Stacey is more naturalistic and spends most of the play frowning into her mulled wine (a clever shortcut, using the kettle) and the sexy, power-suited devil wanders the spectrum playing her own advocate because the other two don’t have a strong grasp of the issues. Sometimes Lucy’s delighted the Second Coming might arrive, because then she can finally relax and be judged. But she also supports terminating the pregnancy as a moral solution and sound way to win God’s love. The characters are not immoral, but amoral because they don’t appear to know, or in Frank’s case care, what’s right or wrong. Just what’s convenient and comfortable. God is a big Voice with excellent timing, and I feel an opportunity was missed not to have more of a love triangle happening, or at least the boys slinging their testosterone around a bit more. A bit of divine dick swinging.

Frank Incensed is a muddy Catholic morality play for narcissistic, modern times that misses the real story: What on earth is Stacey doing with that idiot Frank? Enjoyable, but limited by the huge scope of its subject matter versus the simplicity of its protagonists.

Page at the Camden Fringe

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