Theatre review: Stumped

Heading into what could be an odd season of programming at Hampstead, with no funding and no artistic director, it looks like transfers and co-productions could be the way forward for the troubled venue. Downstairs we get a show from Original Theatre, a company that seems to be predominantly creating streaming work, and a play by Shomit Dutta, a classicist who was captain of Harold Pinter's amateur cricket team. Stumped imagines an encounter between Pinter (Andrew Lancel) and another absurdist playwright with a love of cricket. In fact Samuel Beckett (Stephen Tompkinson) had briefly been a professional player in his youth, but at the time that he agreed to join Pinter's team he hadn't played for decades. The two playwrights wait for their turn to bat, Beckett twitchy and superstitious, Pinter injured but booming confidently in his affected dramatic voice.

What starts naturalistically enough gradually sinks the two men into one of Beckett's own setups as they start to appear trapped in David Woodhead's literal picture-frame stage.

The second scene sees them after Pinter has disastrously lost them the match, waiting on the village green for a lift back to London they've been promised by a teammate nicknamed Doggo. Although, neither being entirely familiar with the rest of the team yet, they're not quite sure who that is - it could be someone Pinter particularly offended, who might have decided to leave them there in revenge. Yes, I'm afraid they could be Waiting For Doggo forever. And yes, I'm afraid that is kind of the level of insight here.

The final setup sees them at a remote railway station the next morning; echoing the endlessly cyclical nature of their previous encounters, the trains always either pass through without stopping, or stop at the other platform, leaving the two playwrights stranded in one of their own plays - the repeated ringing of an offstage telephone giving them vague clues and messages about what to do next has a touch of Pinter's nameless menace, but for the most part this is more Beckettian than Pinteresque, and regular readers will both know that's not my personal preference.

Knowledge of cricket probably helps - the theatre was disproportionately full of gentlemen of a certain age, guffawing at references to Beckett fussily filling in the score book - but honestly not that much: The cricket-based theme is one of many that remains unexplored. Guy Unsworth's production has charming and funny performances from its stars, but if the basic premise of Dutta's play is "what if two absurdist playwrights got trapped in an absurdist play?" then the end result hasn't really offered up anything beyond that initial gag.

Stumped by Shomit Dutta is booking until the 22nd of July at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Pamela Raith.