Honest

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Just off the right side of the bar in the basement of Milnes of Rose Street there is a small room of a kind common to pubs up and down the country. It’s the kind of cosy spot where patrons can enjoy a slightly quieter drink away from the hustle and bustle of the main service area. And twice daily this month it becomes a confession box for Dave (played by Trystan Gavelle) in DC Moore’s latest offering, Honest.

Directed by Polly Findlay, Honest is a 40 minute monologue in which Dave explains over a bottle of beer, exactly how it was that he has recently found himself no longer able to lie. As a direct result of his government job, he has become unable to lie back and swallow the constant stream of meaningless management jargon and bureaucratic incompetence of his department, the Strategic and Tactical Development Team –which he not-so-affectionately refers to as the STD…T. It is all we can do to listen as Dave describes the eventful night that starts with an explosion of career-destroying honesty after one office party too many.

Gavelle’s performance is utterly absorbing: he is confident and cool and the intimacy of the setting works well. With wonderful comic timing he offers a sensitive portrayal of disillusionment with Whitehall and London life.