The Damage

by Paul Sellar

Reviews

Monologues can often seem a bit pricey when they aren’t delivered with passion. The two monologues that form this show though are performed exceptionally by Andrew Dickens, and are both engaging and memorable. The subjects (of darts and horse racing) might not be accessible to all, but the structure of the tales makes them easy to follow. The narrative twists are surprising, shocking and above all satisfying. Well worth seeing.

Three Weeks
4 stars

The Ned Radge of Courage

The idea of a guy dressed like a ned reciting epic style rhyming couplets about darts, gambling and horse racing might not initially appeal to you, but give it a try, for Andrew Dickens makes for powerful viewing in this extended poetic foray into underclass life. Telling the story, in the first half in verse and the second in heightened prose, of a father’s tragedy when forced to throw a darts tournament, then his son’s involvement with a violent loan shark, Paul Sellar’s story has plenty of narrative tension to keep it bumping along, and exquisite timing and rhythms. A cockney epic.

The List
4 stars

Paul Sellar’s epic poem with prose stretches is performed with skill and great verbal dexterity by Andrew Dickens. A story of darts, corruption and gangsterism, it’s a hard man’s tale with a soft underbelly.

The List
Hit List

Bristling with wordsmithian flair and performative poise, The Damage, consisting of two monologues, Killer and The Stake, written by Paul Sellar and wonderfully delivered by Andrew Dickens, is a gem of a piece that delves deep into the seedy pockets of illegal betting and backroom gambling. And one that proves stripping theatre down to its barest bones need not deter from achieving maximum results. Right from the get go, Dickens, bereft of scenery, props, costume or music, brings to life the metier and the metre of working class skullduggery with breathtaking verve.

Nowhere more so than in Killer, a performance poetry piece centred on match fixing in the world of professional darts sustained throughout with rhythms so sharp and observation and characterisation so acute you can almost taste the beer and smell the fag ash.

Narrated from the viewpoint of a kid whose bitter sweet sympathy at his father’s failure to make the grade at the 1978 World Championships after being knobbled by gangsters comes full circle in a most unexpected way. Brimming with the slings and more pointedly arrows of outrageous fortune, it really is top-flight stuff.

Only slightly less gripping is The Stake, where a debt turns to sorrow in a picaresque farce of punting and punters jockeying for position in a world of small-time crooks and big time Charlies.

Metro
4 stars