'The Local Stigmatic' Old Red Lion Theatre ***

A booming proportion of us are roused on what celebrities are doing and this has been the case for decades such as the 1960’s, per contra, sociopaths can take it to the extreme as the definition states that “a sociopath is a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme attitudes and behaviour.” The Old Red Lion Theatre’s production of Heathcote Williams’ 1966 play, ‘The Local Stigmatic’ which is fitting as the play is half a century is a show that leaves you questioning what precisely is going on, withal, the performances were greatly appreciated.

‘The Local Stigmatic’ is set in 1960’s South London where we’re introduced to two working class men, Graham and Ray who are both sociopaths  who spend each and every day gambling on the dogs, debating, quarrelling and reading the tabloid newspaper gossip columns. When the two are sitting down in a pub one evening, they notice that a well-known actor, David who is one of the celebrities that Graham and Ray have read in the newspaper. Similarly to today’s celebrity culture, they pluck up the backbone to acquaint themselves with David and as such; David welcomes them to sit down with him and from this the three share a few drinks together and by the end of the evening they leave the pub as a threesome. Over the course of the performance, we can see what triggers all of Graham and Ray’s sociopath tendencies, but what is most interesting is that both Graham and Ray are the true casualties as they’re living in a rat race bewitched with fame. Their constant gambling at the dog races means that as a result of the fact they keep losing their money as they don’t place their bets on the right dogs and it appears that they are some underlying things that may be going on with them because they are sociopaths. Throughout the show, their antisocial attitudes and behaviour emancipates when they are with David who they’re completely envious of him and due to this, they unleash their annoyance by getting some form of revenge on him. It appears that Graham and Ray are really trapped with their condition and have no way to escape or recover from it which conveys how advancements in mental health studies in this current age could have helped the men with their illness. Nonetheless, in the 1960’s there wasn’t as much guidance on this. On their journey, there are a lot of challenges where their condition leaves them to tormenting David to the point where they savagely lash out on him with no motives whatsoever. What is most perplexing is that Graham and Ray do not appear to be too bothered by what they have just done to an innocent man and at the finale, both Graham and Ray simply walk away from the situation and it seems that is another part of their mad lives and they venture of to another adventure on who know what may occur on the next stage. Williams’ narrative is favourable as the depiction of two sociopaths who show no sense of remorse at the cost of ambushing an actor who at the commencement were totally transfixed by; furthermore, the plot keeps you on your toes with regards to the tone of the language.   

One found the performances by the company of, ‘The Local Stigmatic’ to be shipshape and Bristol fashion as the mentally crazed characteristics looked so natural which means that nothing has been left unfinished as the South London accents were polished and portrayed the harsh and tempestuous era that was the 1960’s. Wilson James is fascinating as Graham; in particular how frightening he comes across when he turns on David and the condition has impacted on what his life has become which is full of an array of addictions that could cause him a lot of financial problems along the line. William Frazer is enthralling as the other sociopath, Ray; principally how different the intimidating characteristic appears with him and his eyes were quite scary here as this could be a way of showing who is boss through to how his body language of being a bit taught where he is ready to explode like a spring that needs to be let go. Tom Sawyer is fine as actor, David; in the main how unaffected he is by the fact that Graham and Ray come over to him to say hello which is some of the things that many celebrities have to face all of the time, conversely when he is attacked by the two men, you sometimes forget the fact that they are still human beings and go through the same things we go through. 

Michael Toumey’s direction is intriguing here as he has presented a long awaited revival of a 50 year old play that presents us with an awareness of sociopaths which to be honest I wasn’t cognisant of this, on the other hand, there is a balance from the threatening moments to the dark comedic elements which is lovely to see. The design is sparse as we can see the changes of locations, then again, I must commend Tom Kitney’s lighting design as the darkness suggests that not everything is rosy and that there is a component of the Kray brother’s in terms of the costumes but in this Graham and Ray are wearing leather jackets. Overall, the experience of, ‘The Local Stigmatic’ to be an increasingly interesting show about how similar fanatics in today’s celebrity culture is what is was like decades ago and a great insight into what a sociopath is and how they deal with it on a regular basis.