(4 / 5)

Written by Laura Wade (Home, I’m Darling) and directed by Lucy Hughes “Posh” is as uncomfortable as it is funny, cringe worthy as it is poignant and outdated as it is relevant. It is everything growing up in Thatchers reign, how I imagined the titled and the privileged would behave (and could, indeed, be behaving in BoJo’s Brexit Britain). It takes mainly stereotypical “Rar Rar toffs” and rams them down your throat, stuffing you like the gritty posh pate eaten for the first course in Act 1.

10 unpleasant young men unravel in a dinning room spin on Lord of the Flies, brought down by their own self importance, arrogance and sense of entitlement.The play holds a mirror up to society and shows us the self imposed holes we place others and ourselves in. With glimpses that life isn’t all it seems…. for anyone.

Laura Wade has created in the main unlikable characters, that by the end of the play you neither like or pity. However, you do ask yourselves some questions about the world we live in. Any empathy I felt for the characters was gone this is cleaver writing – because you don’t mind disliking them – it feels right not to like them. It helps that the script is laugh out loud funny and although you may not like the characters most have them, at first, have some  likeable qualities.

The play is intensely difficult to set as in the main it is 10 men around a round dinning table – but with some clever chair placement you don’t notice. The realistic setting of the dinning room adds to the overall feeling that you are spying on a section of our society that you are not supposed to see – the idea that this behaviour all takes place behind closed doors runs through the play and the fact that director hasn’t tried to rearrange it to accommodate for the audience gives a sense we are peeping through the walls.

The cast is excellent and with a lesser the cast the play could fall flat. Joseph Tyler Todd as George and Adam Mirsty as Guy give stand out performances, but hats off to Tiger Drew Honey who earned his place on the stage as the vile Alister. Quiet in the main for the first half he simpers and simmers to the interval when he finally lets rip. This is the first stage performance for Tiger Drew, he could have opted to play it safe and play a likeable cheeky chappy, instead he has chosen the polar opposite. A gamble that has paid off, as it showcases his talent as an actor. This touring play feels like he is on an apprenticeship which will lead to bigger things.

Posh plays at Theatr Clwyd until October 26th this is a funny, gritty, peep through the curtain look at how, potentially, the privileged few get to be the privileged few, no matter what they do!!!!