Theatre Review: Gargling With Lager - Alqeida Theatre London

Xerxes O'Smith's latest offering at the boutique North London Alqeida Theatre is an absolute tour de force. It gives is a story of three young men out on a Friday night beer session who find an old lamp in the street outside the pub where they are drinking. After giving it a brief polish they are transported to Arabia still holding their pints. In a dry country, this is viewed dimly and all hell breaks loose.

O'Smith uses the Aladdin device to explore the juxtaposition of the Western and Middle Eastern cultures and judges each beautifully - a denouncement of the alcohol fuelled hedonism of Britain on a Friday night and the firm disciplinarian regimes of parts of Arabia. Gary Barry, Barry McGarry and Mick Garrybarry give excellent performances as the three louts and one can almost believe they have actually fuelled up before going on stage.

The play reaches its denouement after punishments are administered in the Arabian prison and they are immediately whirled away back to British streets in time for last orders. It ends on a great visual gag when Mark (Gary Barry) is asked by a friend, James, where they were all evening. "We've been on a pub crawl around the streets of Riyadh," says braggadocio Mark. "Oh, yeah?" says James, "And how many pints did you have?" Mark holds up his two hands with just his thumbs and a single forefinger still in tact, "Seven". The audience rolled in the aisles. But O'Smith is trying to make the point that there are at least some parts of Sharia Law which might be worth transporting to Britain to keep our excesses in check - I think.