Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

I tweeted during this show that I thought I was watching one of the most important plays of the last hundred years… and my view hasn’t changed. Set around the turn of 1900(ish) a gang of painter and decorators set about renovating a grand mansion. However the workers are abused financially, jealousy/envy is rife and workers are played off against one another. Dog eat dog. The solution is to unite and rise against the tyranny of capitalism – the birth of unionism and a socialist outlook. Brechtian in style this was a special theatrical experience. The two multi-talented actors played all the characters with grit and integrity, the shanty’s and subject matter as apt today as the period it was set in. Poignant, funny, vital and brilliant.

Connaught Theatre, Worthing, 9 March 2013

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