Gushoneybungirl Neil Pearson Cloaca

Photo Gallery (should I have breached any Copyrights here - ooops, sorry! Let me know and I shall immediately put things to rights.)

I was fortunate enough to see 'Cloaca' at the end of October, by which time my expectations had been modified and influenced by numerous negative reviews by the professional critics. I am experienced enough as a "Theatre Goer" to know that critics very often don't have a clue what they are talking about but nevertheless, not having read one single positive professional review did make me wonder what was going on here. Fortunately, a few friends of mine saw the show before me and I was greatly encouraged by their comments.

The critics had slated the show as being like 'a bad sit-com'. All I can say is that if they are really comparing the witty and intelligent humor of 'Cloaca' to that of something like (for example) 'Are You Being Served' then they obviously spent far too long in the Bar before the play. The humor of 'Cloaca' is well delivered, subtle for the most part, and generated by the natural wit and interaction of well rounded and believable characters.

It was the fact that those four main characters were so well developed and readily accessible to the audience that impressed me more than anything else. Even a few scenes in to the play I felt as though I 'knew' each of the characters and actually cared about what was happening to them. I probably shouldn't say this on a Neil Pearson website but certainly the most impressive and moving performance was given by Stephen Tomkinson as Peiter.

The plot was a bit 'different', but definitely original, and really was incidental as the drama was entirely generated by character interaction. Humor and tragedy merged flawlessly. There was also a really nice stainless-steel kitchen that made me go, 'Ooh, that's nice, wouldn't mind one of them!'

Neil's performance was excellent, of course, and I know I speak for not only myself when I make particular mention of his dancing skills during the 'Madness' scene - also looked good in the coat and glasses!

So, most certainly a case of Critics not knowing what the heck they are on about. I can only hope that the negative reviews did not put too many people off going and making their own mind up.

In her subtle and well-wrought script, Goos tries to root up what’s behind the friendship of the four male protagonists.

Pieter, a gay clerk, is forced to return the artworks he once stole from the municipal archives. Joep, an ambitious politician heading for a ministerial position, goes into hiding with Pieter in his attempt to cover up his marital problems for the outside world. Tom, a top lawyer trying to dry out, is suffering from bouts of hysteria. Maarten, a theatre director, is hopelessly in love with Joep’s daughter.

The Old Vic Theatre Company presents The British Première of Cloaca, by Maria Goos

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Cast includes: Hugh Bonneville, Ingeborga Dapukunaite, Neil Pearson, Stephen Tompkinson

Director: Kevin Spacey

Designer: Rob Jones

Lighting: Mark Henderson

Sound: Fergus O'Hare

16 September - 11 December THE OLD VIC THEATRE www.oldvictheatre.com

Press Night: Tuesday 28 September

The Old Vic Theatre Company launches its inaugural season, which is sponsored by Morgan Stanley, with the British première of Maria Goos' Cloaca. Cloaca opens on 28 September, with previews from 16 September, and runs until 11 December.

Four lifelong friends are reunited in middle age; their lives finely balanced between hope and disillusion. Maria Goos' play is a darkly funny examination of friendship and aspirations, exploring how men compromise their emotional lives in the constant quest for money, power and reputation.

Written in 2002 for the theatre company Het Toneel Speelt, Cloaca was made into a television film the following year. Both versions were directed by Goos' long term collaborator, Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen.

Born in 1956, Maria Goos worked as a theatre director after leaving drama school in 1982, and also ran her own theatre company, De Kompaan, for four years. Graduating to writing, she first came to prominence in the 1990s with two award-winning television drama series: Called to the Bar and Old Money. Her play Family was a critical and commercial success in the Netherlands, and Goos later adapted the work for television. Her other recent theatre work includes Not Now, Please (2001) and Now, Please (2003).

Hugh Bonneville plays Joep, the permanently ambitious politician, waiting for the call to ministerial office as his marriage goes into freefall. Bonneville has worked extensively in the classical and modern theatre; recent credits include Habeus Corpus, My Night With Reg and Beautiful Thing. For television, his credits include Philip Larkin in Love Again, Daniel Deronda, Tipping the Velvet, Dr Zhivago and Take a Girl Like You; and for film, Mansfield Park, Notting Hill and Iris, for which he won the Best Newcomer Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Neil Pearson plays Maarten, an avant-garde theatre director whose plays don't quite have the same flavour as they used to in his youth. Pearson's recent theatre credits include Benefactors, Closer and Mind Milly for Me in the West End, and Taking Sides and The Real Thing on national tour. He has worked prolifically in television, notably in Trevor's World of Sport, Armadillo, Whistleblower, Fever Pitch, Between the Lines and Drop the Dead Donkey. Film credits include Bridget Jones' Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Privates on Parade.

Stephen Tompkinson plays Pieter. Other theatre credits include Rattle of a Simple Man, Arsenic and Old Lace, Art, Tartuffe, No One Sees the Video, Across the Ferry and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. An accomplished television actor, his many series are In Deep, Ted and Alice, Ballykissangel and Drop the Dead Donkey. His film credits include Brassed Off.

Award-winning Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite plays Woman. Her recent London stage work includes After Darwin, Moonshine, A Slip of the Tongue and The Vagina Monologues. Dapkunaite's television credits include Prime Suspect 6 and The Lost Prince. Her extensive work film work includes Mission Impossible, Lady Behave and Katia Ismailova, as well as Burnt by the Sun, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

The Old Vic Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Kevin Spacey, directs. A multi award-winning actor, Spacey received the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor for his role as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh, which opened at the Almeida Theatre, before transferring to The Old Vic. In 1997, Spacey founded Trigger Street Productions, which has produced The Iceman Cometh, The Big Kahuna, and most recently the award-winning Off-Broadway production of Lee Blessing's Cobb.

Designs are by Rob Jones, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Fergus O'Hare.