The Gift – Park Theatre. London

Writer: Dave Florez

Director: Adam Meggido

We all know that friendships and family relationships can be fragile things, capable of being disrupted by even the slightestof upsets. Dave Florez’s new play, a one-joke comedy, puts this to the test when the arrival of an unexpected gift shocks three characters who are gathered in a flat in Crouch End, just along the road from the Park Theatre. Perhaps the play’s producers imagined that local interest could draw in audiences when all else fails. Sadly, all else does fail.

The occupant of the flat and recipient of the gift is Colin (Nicholas Burns), a 43-year-old single man. Calling round to view the gift are his sister Lisa (Laura Haddock) and her partner Brian (Alex Price). It had arrived that morning by Royal Mail Special Delivery from a nearby patisserie. The object is a cake box, but what is in it? At first, the trio speculates that it could be a chocolate éclair, but further examination reveals that it is in fact a deposit of human excrement.

The discovery prompts Colin to develop a spreadsheet of his potential enemies. Briefly, an unfunny comedy promises to turn into an enthralling whodunnit. For reasons that are not altogether clear, all threecharacters become obsessed with the gift and they begin to re-evaluate their lives. Flores scratches away at the surface, looking for deeper meanings, but genuine emotions need to be filtered through believable characters in credible situations. In this play, neither the people nor their dilemmas are ever made to feel real.

The play starts out as if it has parked in a cul-de-sac. It has nowhere to go and, over a tedious journey of just over two hours (including interval), nowhere is precisely where Florez takes it. The trip is padded out with juvenile lavatorial humour and, in seeming desperation, some crude slapstick is thrown in, but it feels as if there is nothing that director Adam Meggido can come up with to make the comedy work.

For brief spells, the three actors make their characters amiable and the play becomes bearable, but, repeatedly, The Gift invites comparisons with the contents of the cake box, an unwelcome gift indeed.

Runs until 1 March 2025