Preview: Stand and Deliver, Alma Tavern Theatre

Bristol’s Tobacco Tea Theatre Company give us this witty, dark, face-paced action comedy about throwing off expectations of who you should be in society.

“1736. Two highwaymen plan the heist of the century. Can they steal the taxidermy lobster, and save Britain from the clutches of a corrupt political establishment?”

Here’s writer Christopher Cutting to tell us more.

Tell us about the show, then, Chris…
Stand and Deliver is a fast-paced, character-driven, dark, witty, zany period action-comedy fusing theatricality and flair with Tarantino-inspired action. It follows incompetent highwayman Robert Steel and his would-be apprentice Eve as they attempt to steal a precious taxidermied lobster, which contains the key to a nefarious scheme of political corruption reaching to the upper echelons of the British government.
It’s a show about casting off the roles which have been foisted upon us by our stations in life and learning to embrace our true selves. Our two down-and-out, disillusioned protagonists must wrestle with their resentment and hatred as they try to find the right way to defy those who have used and betrayed them.”

…and tell us as much of the plot as you are able to reveal…?
A bitter, violent young woman, Eve, wants to become the apprentice of an infamous local highwayman. She joins him, and he involves her in a special heist to take a taxidermied lobster from a childish, cruel, grasping, pretentious member of the landed gentry, Horace Bluster. There is far more to this heist – and to these characters’ motives – than at first appears, as the mysterious highwayman and vengeful Eve are wrapped up in a political corruption scheme reaching to the heart of the British establishment.

Why the taxidermied lobster, in particular?
It’s a reminder that you’re allowed to laugh! This is a comedy that goes to some very dark places, so I wanted something light and absurd at the centre of it. It holds a special place in the highwayman’s past, but that would be telling…

So, a mix of Tarantino and 18th century highwaymen – tell us how, and why, this show came about.
I’ve been burning to tell a story about elitism and corruption for the last couple of years – about what happens when you shut ordinary people out of political decision-making, support non-accountability in politics and keep power, institutions and resources in the hands of a tiny elite that doesn’t play by the same rules as the little guy.
Well, Britain was once explicitly and openly like that, back in the 18th century. In the same era, highwaymen were a menace on the roads, thieving from the same gentlemen who would participate in politically expedient, corrupt forms of theft themselves, like the South Sea Bubble – it was perfect.
And the Tarantino influence came from the mixing of genres I was doing – dark over-the-top action-comedy, about criminals and outlaws, making satirical points – as well as the fact that I wanted to make it a stylised, contemporary, entertaining piece of fringe theatre, not a historically-accurate realist period piece. I thought I might as well go the whole hog and embrace being Tarantino-esque!

What thoughts, emotions, impressions do you hope to send audiences away with?
An elitist society is a callous one, and prone to corruption and hypocrisy. I’m asking the question: in a corrupt society, what is theft and what is official business? And when society has an egoistic, materialistic definition of success, we end up with characters who are perversely cruel – the way the villains of the show act stems from that.
The personal journeys of our two heroes (or anti-heroes!), Eve and the highwayman, are where the parts about individuality and defiance come in. The highwayman is a role, and the person behind the mask plays another role in his regular life. Eventually, he has to learn to throw off both and become himself. Eve’s character starts on a dark path, and wrestles with her resentment and bitterness at a world that, through pain and tragedy, has made her violent.

From Tobacco Tea’s mission statement: “We’re bringing comedy that matters…” Tell us more about that double-sided aim.
Comedy is the greatest tool we have for getting people to acknowledge the truth, for checking power and pretence and spurring critical thought, so as long as you’re pursuing those things your comedy will matter one way or another. The degree of satire we do varies between shows – some are lighter comedies, some are darker and explicitly about social topics – but every show we do has points to make, commentary on society, and we’ll stick to that.

Mixing comedy with a serious message… is that a tall order, a difficult balance to strike?
That’s what satire is for! All of the comedy I like best has serious messages, real points to make. When you’re telling a joke, you take what the audience thinks is true – the set-up, or a commonly-held idea, and so on – and reveal the truth to be something else, in a way that surprises them. If the truth you’re revealing is something important that the audience needs to hear, then voilà, you’ve got a serious message wrapped in a good joke.

Stand and Deliver is at the Alma Tavern Theatre from Monday, April 9 to Saturday, April 14. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.almatavernandtheatre.co.uk/theatre/what-s-on

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