Review: DOGSTAR at Hampstead Theatre

Daisy Hall’s darkly comic play directed by Lucy Morrison taps the idea of the importance of individuals — both to each other and general outcomes, particularly when the going gets tough. Here aboard a small whaling vessel, with the drunk and unseen ship’s captain holed-up in his cabin, the diminishing number of crew members must face their imminent demise with fortitude. Necessarily secreted into that bleak scenario is a smidgen of optimism that with a little good fortune, divine intervention, or perhaps even an inexplicable dose of the supernatural, they (or at least some of them) may survive this ordeal.

There is a knowing glibness to Hall’s dialogue exchanges which smacks of the modern and is out of keeping with the whaling era, and yet it works remarkably well, imbuing levity and familiarity where neither should exist.

Babben: What happened to your jacket?
Sam: Must have caught it on a nail or something.
Babben: …you look scruffy, give it here I’ll mend it.
Sam: I can do it. I was going to do it.
Babben: When? When were you going to get around to that then?
Sam: When no-one was dying or appearing.

The trio Sam (Abdul Jalloh), Gorey (Adam Rojko Vega), and Babben (Justin Edwards) with his badly injured leg, know their fate looks ominous. When a ship mate dies and a warm and comforting vision appears before all three of them, they are mystified. When, in a fit of remorse, the captain kills himself and a second apparition manifests, it sparks the notion that death events are somehow responsible for opening a portal directly to the vessel owner’s home in the south west of England. Time to hatch a desperate plan.

Throughout the piece, references are made to the disappearance of whales and the livelihoods which depended on them, and yet the notion of global warming and impending ecological disaster is tactfully avoided in keeping with the period. The whaling metaphor could just as easily have been bison on the North American plains but claustrophobia is key to delivering the more supernatural elements which are neatly underplayed and even understated to the point of matter-of-factness.

Each actor has developed a nicely rounded characterisation and the three interact with an irritated familiarity which smacks of incarceration and blame apportioning. For all that, there is minimal testosterone on display and more a general acceptance that to get home (or indeed overcome the smallest challenge) they need each other.

DOGSTAR is a quirky oddity with a few flaws but surprising charm. It continues downstairs at Hampstead Theatre’s small space until 5th December and plays straight through without interval with a running time of 1 hour 30 mins.

Dogstar Tickets