Enjoy – Review (Northern Echo)

EnjoyBy Steve PrattTHIS is, apparently, one of Alan Bennett’s favourite plays and also one of his least-performed. Both things are understandable.Anyone expecting a cosy Northern comedy like he’s given us before will get a rude – very rude – awakening. This is Bennett in a dark and bitter mood, still hilariously funny, but there’s a seriousness to the comedy.You can also see why directors might shy away from Enjoy with its mix of social comment, farce, fantasy and adult comedy.Co-directors Damian Cruden and Juliet Forster are brave enough to tackle it head on. And did I enjoy Enjoy? You bet I did. This is one of the best things that the Theatre Royal has done for a long time.It does everything you can want of a piece of theatre – makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you think and answers the age-old question: can a dead man have an erection?(I told you it was rude).The Cravens are the last inhabitants of a Leeds back-to-back in the middle of a redevelopment area.Wilfred is half-blind and half-paralysed since a hitand- run accident. Wife Connie is forgetful and obsessed with toilets.They have a daughter who works in the sex industry and a son who may well be related to the rather masculine Ms Craig. She’s a Big Brotherstyle observer, sent by the council to record the daily lives of these ordinary folk before their house becomes little more than an exhibit in a museum.Peter Nolan and Gilly Tompkins are both superb as the Cravens, leading a cast that doesn’t put a foot wrong on Nigel Hook’s set, which delivers the final coup de theatre at the end.