Dom – the Play review

This frenetic comedy from Neil Green (the name is a pseudonym; official authorship has not been confirmed, but Lloyd Evans, the theatre critic of The Spectator, is rumoured to be involved) was first seen at the White Bear last summer, where it enjoyed a sell-out run. This transfer brings it a lot closer to the play’s spiritual home, just up the road from Westminster. It’s here that the maverick figure of Dominic Cummings acted as a special political adviser for a tumultuous decade.

In a production by Michael Kingsbury, this political satire allows the character to tell his own story, from his own point of view, and it’s a fairly serious affair. Chris Porter as Cummings is all shirtsleeves and cerebral muscle, explaining the value of data and how knowledge can bring power. Undeniably arrogant and opinionated but decidedly his own man, he’s as happy working on the family farm as steering political policy. The woolly hat and glasses are a disguise for when he tortures himself by window shopping in Islington and facing the wrath of the blustering middle classes.

This Cummings admits that his talents are average but feels that he operates in a world filled with idiots. This is made manifest when the real comedy talent turns up in the shape of Boris Johnson. Tim Hudson’s BoJo is a ghastly buffoon and the perfect foil to Porter’s tightly wound Cummings. At this point, the script becomes far more ruthless and delivers some of the belly laughs needed to make the political chaos more palatable. Cummings’ ideals of civil service reform, data science and the big-tech revolution unravel as Johnson’s self-serving narcissism takes hold.

Continues...