An Abigail’s Party for the Generation X

An Abigail’s Party for the Generation X

The Incomers, Bikeshed Theatre, Tuesday 23rd to Saturday 27 April 27, 7.30pm

A lurid, yet blistering funny, Devon tale of sex, drugs and perfectly seared scallops is set to both enthral and entice audiences when it tours the Westcountry this spring.

The Incomers, a hideously entertaining black farce in which four friends are slowly stripped of all their pretensions and secrets, was written by 6 Music resident poet, and regular BBC Radio 2 contributor, Murray Lachlan Young.

The play is set in the Westcounty, as a full moon rises over a remote, windswept cottage. The children are in bed, wine is breathing nicely and the dinner is in the oven.

It’s Gordon and Celia’s wedding anniversary. They’ve asked their oldest and dearest friends Zach and Jane down from London. The only problem is that Zach and Jane aren’t Zach and Jane anymore. Jane has gone and Julia – the 25-year-old, French burlesque dancer, has taken her place.

What starts as a simple celebration quickly descends into farce as devastating revelations unravel, until it becomes perfectly and painfully clear that no one has been telling the truth for a very long time.

Groundbreaking by its use of Murray’s characteristic verse, The Incomers will have you gasping in shock and roaring with laughter in equal measures.

Murray, who spent 10 years living in rural Cornwall said: “I love the Westcountry sense of humour and I love the way things get done and undone. It may seem strange to those who come to a performance of The Incomers, but it is my tribute to the west.”

Many people, when moving to the area find that the Westcountry has different plans for them than they had originally hoped for.”

The Incomers features a strong cast fronted by Rory Wilton, best known as Chippy Miller in the popular television series Doc Martin.

Rory said: “Caught in the teeth of this outrageously dark comic farce, four head strong characters are slowly stripped of their outer layers of pretence and pretension as their deepest secrets are both painfully and pleasurably revealed. Slowly these equally likeable, and delightfully dislikeable characters, are gloriously savaged over the downward spiral of an evening that will leave them all with a bitter after taste and no option but to take a good hard look at everything they have come to stand for.

“Throughout the various indulgent courses of the night’s excesses the secrets and lies that have framed and fuelled our four friend’s farcical existence are deconstructed, dissected and devoured in a hilariously wicked fashion.

“Dancing, stripping, sea bass and Chateaux le fete, all play their saucy parts in the arrival at the table of that most unwelcome of guests: total brutal honesty.”

The Incomers has been well and truly ‘made in Devon’. It was born in exploratory workshops at Beaford Arts, Winkleigh, and was further developed during a residency at The Space, Dartington Hall Trust. The show is being rehearsed in Exeter – under the guiding hand of Devon-based director Paul Jepson – and will premiere at Studio QT, Barnstaple, on Thursday, April 18.

Murray added: “When waking up from living a dream, one can often find that delusion would be wonderful – if other people didn’t start getting involved.”

Critics have already lauded the Incomers as ‘an Abigail’s Party for the Generation X’. Set to a fabulous soundtrack of evocative ’90s sounds, The Incomers dances, laughs, sings and cries its way through an unforgettable night.

The Incomers isshowing at the Bikeshed Theatre, Exeter, on Tuesday, April 23, to Saturday, April 27, at 7.30pm. Tickets available from the Bikeshed box office (01392 434169) or online at www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk

The play is also showing at the Studio at Queens Theatre, Barnstaple, on Thursday, April 18, at 8pm. Tickets £11 / £6 – tickets from the Queens Theatre box office (01271 324242) or online at: www.northdevontheatres.org.uk