Losing the Plot

British playwright and director John Godber returns to Edinburgh for the first time in a decade with this new comedy drama, which charts the changed landscape of a marriage when a husband returns following a three-month disappearing act.

Art teacher Jack Munroe (Steve Huison) reappears in his small Yorkshire village having had a long breakdown in a field. He discovers that his wife (Sue Cookson) has channelled the stress he left in his wake into a comic novel. There are bills to pay and a literary agent thinks it could be a hit. Its subject? Jack.

Godber’s production takes a while to find its feet. The opening scenes move along without much momentum, while Jack’s complaints about being exploited circle the same whinge for too long. But when a drunk Cookson rips into his selfishness and society at large, the script burns brightly and furiously.

There’s a Shirley Valentine-esque note to Cookson’s character’s transformation of her life, coupled with a spirited debate about the value and integrity of the arts in recession-hit Britain. Snooty Jack’s high-minded principles won’t pay the mortgage, however much he might be right.

The play stacks its cards against Jack but Huison manages to find something sympathetic beneath his character’s buffoonery. He and Cookson are easily believable as a middle-aged couple facing the lengthening years of a financially uncertain future.

This is an enjoyable piece of theatre, if not a boundary-pushing one, anchored by two strong performances, some perceptive humour and a real sense of social conviction.