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Let me be clear! Katie Mulgrew’s Liverpool Hope and Liverpool Royal Court Playwrighting Prize Winner, Omnibus, is exactly that … an absolute winner from start to finish!
It’s a typical Sunday afternoon in a shared house. One in the kitchen getting the roast on, two on the sofa watching the soap omnibus and one on the floor having a few wines. The biggest decision that needs to be made is when to put the roasties in.
Except that the one who is cooking can’t cook. And the one drinking the wine shouldn’t really drink. And the ones watching the telly are definitely not expecting the drama to come to life.
What a fabulously funny, fast and fun filled night it is at the sparkly new Unity Theatre. Omnibus is a farce of such feisty offerings, it fizzes and crackles like a grinder on metal and drives straight into top gear without barely slipping down to take the bends.
On the few occasions that it does – such as when Lauren, played by the fantastic Alice Bunker-Whitney, beautifully delivers a poignant monologue in Act I – iit is so craftily implanted into proceedings it is almost a relief to be able to draw breath before racing off again.
To a man and woman the cast are superb, with special mention having to go to both Danny Burns as the hapless “gangsta” Lesley and Eve McKenna’s brattish Jess. Then of course there is the glorious Eithne Browne who clearly revels in being surrounded by such breathtakingly brilliant young talent.
Omnibus is an absolutly divine comedy. A laugh out louder that completely and utterly delivers to the extent where,it might be argued, that not since Robert Farquhar’s Di is Dead has such a non-stop fun fest been put before a Liverpool audience.
Marvellous, marvellous stuff.
Omnibus
The Unity Theatre, Liverpool
June 7. – June 17
Author: Katie Mulgrew
Director: Robert Farquhar
Cast: Gemma Banks, Alice Bunker-Whitney, Eva McKenna, Joel Parry, Danny Burns, Eithne Browne.
Running Time: 2 hours
PR Rating: ***** Just FABULOUS!!
For Tickets: http://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/whats-on/omnibus.html