The latest incarnation of JB Shorts contains just five instead of the usual six short plays as Higher Definition by James Quinn was cancelled at the end of last month due to "an ongoing dispute". In some of the remaining plays, there seem to be a couple of running themes, perhaps not deliberate, of care homes and parents introducing their new partners to their offspring.
The opening play, Meeting Morag by Ben Tagoe, directed by Miranda Parker, is exactly this, as a fidgety Paul (Matt Lanigan) introduces his new girlfriend Danielle (Sonia Morris) to the Morag of the title, played with venom by Libby Hall. Morag is a 15-year-old modern female version of Jimmy Porter, complaining loudly and obnoxiously—and constantly—about everything, including her name. But Danielle isn't intimidated by her insults and her lies about her father as she plans on staying.
It's an impressive central performance in the title role, though her verbal abuse goes on a bit longer than one would think it would be tolerated, but the piece as a whole largely works.
I'm not sure I can say the same about Ministry of Me by Julie Jones, directed by Cherylee Houston, which has a decent opening, with Daniel Brennan's spoof warning announcements over the PA, and an okay ending, with Joan Kempson as God on the screen at the back, but everything in-between is rather confused and not half as funny as it wants to be.
Milo (Oscar Jones), Sadie (Hope Vidal) and Max (Jack Furlong) are actors who have just finished a performance at the Happy Bunny Retirement Home. There are various old and obvious gags around this and about why they can't get proper acting work, then suddenly they are in the world of the televangelist, going on TV to ask for money, and Milo is beginning to take himself a little too seriously as the divine one. But despite the cast pushing their performances as over-the-top as they can to make it seem like a hilarious romp, the script only manages to raise the occasional titter.
In the cast of the act one closer is, I believe, the first JB Short to feature a canine actor, though, rather unfairly, it doesn't get a credit in the programme. Dogsbody by Lindsay Williams, directed by Hanna Ellis-Ryan, sees Jay (Liam Scholes) bring in the dog to show his girlfriend, Sabrina (Hope Yolanda), but she thinks it is for her, and when she finds out that the dog she wanted to call Fifi is for Jay's boss's monstrous daughter and has been named Killer, she insists he finds a way to let her keep it.
But Jay's boss Johnno (Ryan Clayton) is a bit of a gangster (shades here of Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths), and the incident almost kicks off a turf war between him and rival gang boss Mickey (Sam Courtney). A strong cast (including the dog, who always seems to be looking at the person talking as though listening carefully) and some tight direction bring out the best in a script that has some decent laughs if a rather drawn-out and far-fetched plot.
After the interval, Mirror Mirror by Diane Whitley, directed by Amelia Griffiths, is an intriguing piece containing some interesting ideas—though perhaps too many, making it longer and wordier than it needs to be.
Joyce (Jenny Gregson) is being attended to in a care home by Rosie (Elika Scere Jacobs), but the image she sees of herself in the mirror is of her 21-year-old self in '60s dress. When Rosie leaves, the reflection comes out of the mirror and talks to Joyce about her life—although it is the 21-year-old version of her, she knows everything that happened to her since that age—with Young Joyce challenging and old Joyce defensive. Aunt Alice, who vanished without trace one day, said that mirrors could trap your souls while you sleep, so should she trust the image of her younger self when she tells her she could see her dead husband again?
Finally, Daddy's Home by Phil Mealey, directed by Adam Cachia, features the writer as Gary whose father Bill (Steve Royston Brown) has moved in with him uninvited when he is supposed to be in a care home. But that's not all; to bring the whole evening full circle from the first play of the night, Bill introduces Gary to his new girlfriend, Sandra (Lynn Roden), who happens to have been his carer, which is why care home manager Mrs Donachie (Pegeen Murphy) has kicked them both out, though fellow resident Frank (Geoff Baron) cheers them on.
It's a fast-moving piece with a strong cast and some great comic lines well-delivered, so a perfect piece with which to end the night.
Apart from the cancelled piece by Quinn, a few of the other regulars don't have pieces in this edition, including Dave Simpson, Trevor Suthers and Peter Kerry, but it's good to see some new blood coming into the JB fold, though this isn't the best JB selection and most, if not all, could do with a bit of a trim to make them more effective, but there's still enough to be worth a look and it's still a cheap and friendly theatrical night out.