A pretty speedy transfer from Broadway to the West End - with the original creative
team but a new British cast - for a show that's quickly gained a Marmite reputation,
but ended up with me having no strong feelings either way. In Robert Askins'
Hand
to God, recently-widowed Margery (Janie Dee) is distracting herself from her
grief by running a Christian puppetry class in the local church's basement, with the
intention of getting teenagers to perform Bible stories at services. There's only
three kids in her class though, and very little enthusiasm for the project, except
from her son Jason (Harry Melling,) who's a bit
too enthusiastic: Timid and
bullied by classmate Timothy (Kevin Mains,) everything Jason has been repressing
gets let out by his sock puppet Tyrone, who speaks to him even when they're alone,
threatens violence if the boy tries to take him off his hand, and quickly becomes
the dominant personality.
