Lloyd Evans’s One Jab Cures All is a farce about a medical clinic where ‘the ultimate cure’ to all physical diseases has been discovered. It’s playing at Chiswick’s Theatre at the Tabard.
On the Tabard’s stage, we see white walls, a few shelves of test tubes, files, and a single laptop. This, we are told in a meta moment, is all a stage production of the story would be able to afford (set design by Alice Carroll).
The doctor in charge, Max (Rob Pomfret), is a humanitarian who wants to offer the drug for free; his colleague, Judy (Sophie Mackall), sees £ signs and revenue for the company. Also on the staff is gifted tech expert Victor (Jay Warn), “a person on wheels.”
Although this is structured with something of an act one ‘cliffhanger’, it might just as easily have been a 90-minute piece, straight through. The second act is more sharply farcical than the first, offering more belly laughs.
Dr Max has a Bob Monkhouse vibe, a loud, hammy bonhomie, which initially chafes with the characterisation of Dr Judy. The role is played in a very broad style that pays dividends once his daughter, Felicity (Lauren Whitehill) – glued to her phone but not particularly bright – enters the story.
This is a light comedy that doesn’t treat the health system, public or private, with kid gloves. Instead, it cocks a snook at Big Pharma, as well as surmising the effects a “cure-all” may have on overpopulation.
Matthew Parker’s direction makes good use of the space and, particularly. the inevitable pratfall. He doesn’t let Evans’s script fall into cartoon mode but lets the action build up until even the more disturbing aspects of the plot give rise to helpless giggles from the audience.
One Jab Cures All is silly, daft, and improbable, but it does offer some pointed remarks about sperm banks, asylum seekers, generation-gap romances, corporate greed, and medical ethics.
***.5
One Jab Cures All continues at the Tabard until 31 Jan with tickets here. It is produced by Lumbago Theatre Company.
Photo credit: Lidia Crisafulli