Plays 2: Blue/Orange / Dumb Show / Wild Turkey

by Joe Penhall

Penhall's 1994 play Some Voices was described as 'the most thrilling playwriting debut in years' by the Sunday Times. He has consistently lived up to and exceeded that early promise as the plays in this second volume of his work testify. Characterised by a taut mood, a grappling with moral dilemmas, and tough, eloquent dialogue, punctuated by outrageously comic moments, the plays in this volume are:

Blue/Orange: An incendiary tale of race, madness and power set in a psychiatric hospital. 'Britain's best new play since Michael Frayn's Copenhagen ? thrillingly original' Financial Times
Dumb Show sees TV star Barry caught in a tense game of manipulation and entrapment in this satire on the fame game and the media industry: 'Penhall brings the same sharpness and wit to Dumb Show that he did to his hugely successful Blue/Orange' The Times
Wild Turkey (1993): a characteristically taut work about the acrimonious relationships of people in a late-night burger bar.
'More than any of his peers Penhall has shown a rare aptitude for confronting headline issues of the day, using his gift of the gab as a dramatist to interrogate their underlying complexities and contradictions' Daily Telegraph

Genres: Plays

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2008

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

King of Thieves, by Joe Penhall
Seven out of 10


There have been (too) many films about heists – including The Heist, Heist and many more.

Even Michael Caine, has recently launched another motion picture in the same genre, Going in Style.
It has Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin in the cast, but that is not enough to make that watchable.

If anything, King of Thieves works better, perhaps much better.
This action feature has a tremendous cast too and they appear to work together better, if not magnificent.

Indeed, if you are looking for a memorable, classic film that has inspired a remake, you should look for…

Going in Style, but the 1979 version with a phenomenal George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg

King of Thieves has going for it the fact that the script is based on the true story of a gang or retired criminals.
Brian Reader aka the legend Michael Caine is the mastermind of the operation, and should have “copyright”

This is what Basil aka Charlie Cox would argue when he also comes to a dispute with the other gang members.
They target a jewelry district and for that, they have the aforementioned two, then a few others:
Danny Jones aka the mesmerizing Ray Winstone – first admired by this cinephile in Sexy Beast

Terry Perkins played by the equally majestic Jim Broadbent, together with John Kenny Collins aka the outstanding Tom Courtenay – with a card that has The loneliness of the Long distance Runner, Billy Liar, The Dresser and so many others on it and finally, Michael Gambon in the role of Billy the Fish Lincoln

Some of those criminals are effective and know their “trade” secrets very well, while others are just losing their grip.
John Collins for instance tends to fall asleep as he is supposed to watch and alarm the others if the police or others come by.

The thieves are lucky at times and seem to have been cursed at others- the alarm would not stop for a long time.
However, when some security agents come to the place, they try the door a little and then abandon the premises.

As they have a machine to cut through the very think protection, they come to the last chapter of the breaking.
Moreover, they cannot do it, for the accessory would not work!

Hence, they have to abandon the heist, if temporarily, and return the next day with a new, working gadget.
They penetrate the wall and – like in the much better, a classic really, Sexy Beast – start emptying the safe boxes.

From early on, there are animosities and small camps within the gang; Basil for instance has some clues from Brian Reader.
Unfortunately for them, the divisions become so deep once they are in possession of the loot as to make the heist a failure.

There seem to have been a saying about “honor among thieves”, but like most sayings, it is flawed.

Each mistrusts the others and for good reason, since John Collins seems to be losing it, Billy the Fish drinks too much.
Brian Reader is furious at the way the others understand to divide everything and he wants revenge.

The police are investigating and finding the footage from the cameras in the area where it seemed over Two Hundred Million Pounds of loot has disappeared!
This is an interesting, albeit not overwhelming film.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Master class in conflict.