Elaine C Smith and Steven McNicoll are comedy duo gold
Mrs Puntila and her man Matti
By Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Denise Mina
Directed by Murat Daltaban
Starring Elaine C. Smith
28 February – 21 March 2020, The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
25 March – 11 April 2020, Citizens Theatre at Tramway
Updating Brecht's play with a gender swap gives us the best comedy performances I've seen on stage in a long time, mainly due to the verbal duelling of Smith and Nichols.
When sober, Mrs Puntila is a ruthless capitalist mill and landowner, but once she has a drink the Jekyll and Hyde characteristics kick in and she becomes a loving kind generous benefactor with a hint of loneliness.
Her chauffeur Matti’s main job is to save her from herself when she's drunk, which he does most of the time. But, when she is sober, he has to suffer the downtrodden treatment of being her servant, and a servant who knows his place.
The set by Tom Piper is just a big frame work in which staircases are moved in and out, and is brilliantly conceived and executed. The music, provided by Oguz Kaplangi, is excellent.
There are two main problems with the play. The first is that it is slightly over-long, but this could be sorted by cutting the scene where the four women walk back to the bus stop and on the way tell us how poor people have it hard in life, and that rich people can be nasty .
The second is a little more problematic; the house lights are called to be brought up and then there are four diatribes that are reminiscent of an Edinburgh Fringe performance by Socialist Worker-reading drama students of the 1980s. It is absolutely pointless, patronising, condescending and almost kills the play stone dead. And I say this as 1970s latch-key kid who still reads the socialist worker!
Thankfully Smith and McNicoll come back on to prove that you can make a political point with comedy, and leave the sledgehammer in the wings.
Don't let this scene put you off, though - overall it's a fun production and well worth your time.