The Unfriend – Wyndham’s Theatre

We’ve all done it – you’re on holiday, you’re relaxed, you meet a fellow tourist and strike up a vacation-friendship. You say, “We must keep in touch”, even exchange contact details without ever really meaning anything other than “Goodbye” and never really wanting to see that person again. Maybe you exchange Christmas cards but nothing more. It’s part of the British psyche to avoid appearing even a little impolite, so you will do everything to escape a hint of awkwardness or embarrassment. Thus, when Peter and Debbie meet ebullient far-right-wing American, the Trump-supporting Elsa Jean Krakowski, on a cruise and she invites them to visit her in Denver, they reluctantly give her their email address. A few weeks later she’s manipulated them into letting her stay for a few days and she turns up on their doorstep two days early with piles of luggage, upending the lives of Peter, Debbie and their two grumpy teenagers. But Debbie looks up Elsa Jean Krakowsi online and finds that she has a chequered past, to put it mildly. There are news reports and mugshots of Elsa after various relatives and friends tended to die around her. How can Peter and Debbie protect their family without seeming rude? Will they all be murdered in their own suburban home?

Lee Mack’s Peter is full of extreme embarrassment, going to the extent of using his elderly mother as an excuse to get Elsa to move out. He’s one massive ball of cringe. Mack’s comedy is physical, visceral and intensely relatable. Best known as a panel-show contestant, Mack also has serious comedy acting chops and has the chance to exercise them to the full in this production. Sarah Alexander beautifully imbues the world-weary mother, exasperated by her husband’s unwillingness to take action against their unwanted and potentially lethal guest. But it’s Frances Barber as the larger-than-life-and-death Elsa, who totally steals the show and owns the stage. She thoroughly convinces as the supremely over-the-top character who gaslights everyone so spectacularly that her rationale in favour of murder begins to sound eminently reasonable. As Debbie says, there were lots of people she would have liked to murder only she didn’t want to be impolite.

Robert Jones’s two sets, the deck of the cruise liner and the living room of Peter and Debbie’s suburban semi, are as recognisable as the characters, and are the perfect backdrop for this kitchen sink comedy with a difference.

Steven Moffat’s The Unfriend is a playfully funny exploration of how far people will go to avoid seeming even a bit rude. With Mark Gatiss’s excellent and sure-footed direction, and the talent and obvious enjoyment of the cast, this production is a joy, full of laugh-out-loud and cringe-worthily recognisable moments.  Book now for a jolly good laugh.

The Unfriend plays at Wyndham’s Theatre until 9th March. Tickets are available from: https://www.wyndhamstheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-unfriend

Reviewer: Carole Gordon

Reviewed: 9th January 2024

North West End UK Rating: