Red Peppers / Aged in Wood. Tabard Theatre.

Director Jason Moore’s double bill at the Tabard Theatre pairs Noel Coward’s 30-minute theatrical amuse-bouche, Red Peppers, more a sketch than a play, with Aged in Wood, a new, longer comedic work by Cian Griffin. Set in the same provincial theatre dressing room, 90 years apart, both pieces offer a metatheatrical glimpse into a difficult day for has-been actors, onstage and off. Replete with bitching, bickering, and banter, the pairing provides a solidly amusing, character-led evening. If only there were a bit more plot or emotional heft to enjoy along the way.

Perhaps most appealing to the more ardent of Coward’s fans, Red Peppers certainly manages to capture the grimy, fading world of second-rate music hall. Double act George Pepper (West End regular Jon Osbaldeston, channelling dissolute disillusionment) and his wife, Lily (musical theatre stalwart Jessica Martin), have been delivering the same song and comedy routine for 15 years, much of it inherited from George’s father. Their catch-phrase is “keep it clean, keep it fresh, keep it fragrant”, but what they serve up is none of these things. Anticipate groan-inducing jokes (“Why is midnight like the roof of a house? It’s ‘slate”) and tired musical numbers delivered with rictus grins in grimy sailor suits.

In between turns, the pair occupy their time smoking Players, drinking Guinness, and bitching about missed cues, each other, and the incompetence of the musical director Bert (Philip Gill) and stage manager Mr Edwards (Dominic Chesney). The relationship, replete with squabbling, lacking much obvious affection, and marked by petty grievances, is in stark contrast to the pair’s on-stage personas. Not an awful lot happens in Red Peppers – If you are looking for psychological nuance or layered social critique, this is not the play – but there is comedy and pathos in the relationship, and two fine performances from Osbaldeston and Martin add charm to a piece that might otherwise feel awfully dated.

Cian Griffin’s Aged in Wood sees ageing musical theatre star Deena Ames (Jessica Martin again) curling her hair and doing her make-up in the very same dressing room. Midway through the national tour of a decidedly iffy play about marital infidelity, she, too, is having a bad day. The reviews are poor, the houses are thin, and the costumes do not fit (thankfully, “Maureen on costumes knows all the problem areas”).

Worse, Deena’s heavily drinking leading man, Rufus (a red-nosed Philip Gill, parachuted into the production at the last minute, declaims his way through the part), keeps forgetting his lines and insists on giving her line-readings on her dialogue. Deena’s longstanding agent, Avis (a deliciously venal Emma Vansittart), wants her to audition for the role of a paedophile rapist in a new play (“You’re full of shit Avis! I’m an agent darling. I have to be”). Legendary musical theatre impresario Terry Dunne (Dominic McChesney) suggests that Deena revive her career in a musical version of The Diary of Anne Frank, set during the Falklands War. It is fair to say this actor’s career spiral may not yet have run its course.

As is comedy-drama’s custom (although we are really in sit-com territory here), our protagonist decides that an hour before curtain-up is a good moment to deconstruct her failing relationship with her former husband (Jon Osbaldeston, once more) and her fashion-conscious gay son Quinn (Rhys Cannon, woefully underused). Anticipate sparks, resentments, revelations, and confessions.

Griffin can pen witty dialogue, and the actor-heavy press night audience loved the ‘luvvie’ in-jokes. But as with Red Peppers, it is not easy to discern a storyline or much going on under the surface in Aged in Wood. Coward gets away with style without obvious substance because there is so much subversive intelligence in his writing. Gryphon struggles to give Deena any credible redemption, although the writing sparkles intermittently in the passive-aggressive showdown between Deena and Henry. Top-notch turns from Osbaldeston and Martin more or less keep the 60-minute piece on the road. With lesser performers, this might be hard work. One idly speculates whether, George and Lily-style, a few songs might add some musical theatrical pizazz.

Writers:  Red Peppers by Noel Coward and Aged in Wood by Cian Griffin

Director:   Jason Moore