Review of Loft Theatre Company production of The Putz (2011)

There was once an appalling British film comedy called Percy, about a man with a penis problem. Flash forward more than 30 years and we now have this American stage comedy, about a man with a penis problem. And the news still isn’t good.

Nothing to do with prudishness, you understand, it’s just that this piece is lame, unfunny and – dare I say it? – limp.

A talented theatre team – director and three actors – give their all to pump life into a sad script which embodies a first act full of weak jokes being constantly repeated and a basic story line that simply doesn’t work.

The second half goes some way towards restoring some sense of theatrical balance with the characters finally delivering dialogue which is at least credible if not very original. Rod Stone, after screeching through the first act in a horrifying falsetto, becomes a somewhat more sympathetic victim of physical misfortune who is batted like a shuttlecock between the woman he loves and her zany sister.

Equally, at this point, Rachel Cooper is able to ditch her ditzy squeak and develop a more engaging persona as the full-on sister and Michelle MacLeod manages to maintain a degree of cool dignity in the face of adversity – most of it from the script rather than the plot.

One can only sympathise with the players while director Marian Kemmer valiantly adds comic extras (and a very effective set) to the generally dire material.

They all deserve better. And that’s not being a prude. Or a putz.

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Peter McGarry is an experienced, independent professional theatre critic who has agreed to review Loft Theatre Company productions.

The agreement with the Loft is that Peter is free to express his opinions for good or ill. The Loft Theatre Company has no control whatsoever over the content of these reviews and will never comment publicly on what he writes.