It’s an unlikely mix of a budding romance and an ode to the London Underground but it looks very like a resounding hit for the Southwark Playhouse this holiday season. While it has nothing to do with Christmas (well, except for the very talented Emily Waters playing festive tunes while wearing a Santa hat on your way in) Cockfosters is fast, funny and unexpectedly uplifting.
Perhaps none of these are terms you’d apply to the tube itself but writers Hamish Clayton and Tom Woffenden have recreated all the highs and lows of travelling on the Piccadilly line in a series of what are essentially stand-alone sketches that bring in everyone from drunken hen parties (who turn into a girl band singing about getting pissed) to the Grim Reaper (he turns up at Wood Green).
The thread that holds this together is the meet-cute, as they say in Hollywood, of Tori (Beth Lilly) and James (Sam Rees-Bayliss) who get on the tube at Heathrow and end up at the other end of the line – the eponymous Cockfosters. Tori has only just made it onto the train, hurling the bags on at the last minute, while James has nothing except a ticket for his lost luggage. They start to chat (on the Tube? Perhaps the most unlikely moment of the evening) and, in a series of what could almost be termed ordeals, get to know each other.
The pair are put through their paces by the normal disturbances of tube life (such as football supporters) as well as some remarkable coincidences. James’s embarrassing friend Richard turns up (Charlie Keable is marvellously ghastly) who tries to chat up Tori (her ex gets on further down the line). There are historical insights about the great plan that created the underground and its visionaries foresee a transport system that would be spacious and never overcrowded with no delays due to strikes or engineering works – you get the picture. It turns out that, a few generations back, Tori has a link to the first builders and that trains run through her veins…
Along the way, there are plenty of songs, adverts and poems on the train are brought to life (there’s a walk-on for Will Shakespeare) and there’s even a game show with audience participation (did you know the Victoria line was going to be the Viking line or that the only station with every vowel in its name is South Ealing?). Unbelievably, all of this takes place in a straight-through run (no interval) of around an hour and a quarter. Talk about pacey.
It may not be traditional Christmas fare but there’s definitely a sense of panto here. The music (including a song that includes every train station) is delivered with gusto by a cast that is uniformly and energetically excellent. Recommended.
Cockfosters runs at the Southwark Playhouse until 3rd January. For more information about performance dates, and for bookings, please visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk.
