"Waiting Room" is a one man, one act play written by David Coggins. The poster promoting it was a very artistic photograph of (presumably) Piccadilly Station which drew my interest immediately.
As we entered the auditorium at The King's Arms, the actor (Sam Grogan) was already on stage, sitting on a bench, hands on knees, looking deep in thought. The backing noise was suggestive of a station.
This is a one man show and Sam completely held our attention for the full hour – there were a few stumbles over the words occasionally but it was an earnest, captivating performance and after some initial doubt about where the play was going, I found myself drawn in and eager to find out what would happen.
Tom (Sam Grogan) is man who has just become 40. He is smartly dressed, well spoken and at pains to tell us that he is a good man, with a normal, routine-driven life. He initially comes over as a little smug and self-satisfied with his 'normal' life and the fact that he is "polite, solvent, chivalrous..." and that he sleeps soundly at night. However, the first seeds of unease are sown when he qualifies this by saying that he dreams of violent acts...
He then begins an enthusiastic and very animated rant about obesity...complaining that the Fat Controller from Postman Pat has been renamed because you can't refer to anyone being fat nowadays – as well as being a very accurate observation on modern society, this was also done in a very humorous way.
Tom's spoken narrative is interspersed with a recorded narrative of him, describing in detail an incident where he witnessed a dog being hit by a car which then drove off. Tom describes in detail how he went to the dog and his feelings towards the dog and the dog's reaction to him; which was one of gratitude. This was quite heart-breaking - it was told in several sections during the play and although I didn't really want to hear it as it was quite upsetting, it had a great impact and was very thought provoking. It was clearly very relevant to Tom's descent into darkness. I liked the way the distinction between the scenes was made with a change of lighting which was effective and an instant mood change.
Tom then begins the first of many comments alluding to "ten paces". A little more was added each time these parts broke into the main narrative, including references to "something will happen...it will be a fluid movement...there will be no delays". This is out of place with what he's just been talking about so it is obviously very meaningful and I thought that clearly, he is going to jump in front of a train and the ten paces is how long it is to walk to the edge of the platform.
Another reason I thought that Tom was preparing to kill himself was because he appears to be disassociating himself from his life: his response to his boss when questioned about why he went to Blackpool when he should have gone to a meeting was to explain that he wanted to see the sea and have an ice-cream; his attitude to his wife is clearly very bitter and he doesn't seem to care about her (but he has just discovered that she's having an affair) and he takes great delight in her distress when she realises he knows about the affair. It seemed to me that all the clues were there and it was just a matter of time...
One section I really liked and which I think was really well written was about a traffic queue and various people in the traffic queue who Tom observed. I found myself getting quite tense during this bit because the description was excellent. It put me in mind of a scene from "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas. Tom reacts to a man who drops a bag of litter from his car...in a way that surprises him and made me want to stand up and applaud! This incident seems to be the game changer for Tom, it fills him with a sense of aliveness that he's never known and he refers to it as opening his eyes.
Sam Grogan's portrayal of Tom comes across loud and clear that Tom is a man on the edge and various things have colluded to push him to the edge. He speaks with conviction, passion and is extremely earnest and precise with all the points he wants to make. His delivery at times is very theatrical and animated and this emphasises how keenly he needs to get his point across. He refers to pounding in his head and the intensity and tension builds very successfully all the way through.
There is a lot of observation about human behaviour in this play, a lot of which most of us who are 40 and over and a little world weary will very much identify with. There are some very valid points regarding consumerism and the vacuousness of society, particularly with regard to phones. I really loved this section.
Although this is a very chilling play and not really a light-hearted way to spend an hour, there is quite a lot of humour in there too: I really enjoyed Tom relaying a conversation between him, his boss and the HR Manager which was very entertaining.
Towards the end, Tom is clearly reaching the point of no return and it is obvious that something is going to happen from which there is no coming back. It does – but I won't ruin the plot by saying what it is.
I really enjoyed this play. It was chilling, very well executed and extremely well performed by Sam Grogan who brought the character of Tom to life and made him very believable.
Reviewer: Nicky Lambert
Reviewed: 28th October 2016
North West End Rating: ★★★★
