No Son of Mine

This two-man play, centred around father and son Don and Dennis Hazeley (played by Alex Kirk and Rufus Jones), is a well-constructed piece.

Don Hazeley is a Grimsby car salesman spiv with a stock of gratuitously offensive gags and corny chat-up lines. He is father to Dennis, a precocious actor about to perform an Edinburgh fringe show about forbidden gay love. However, Don is determined to disrupt, turning Dennis’ sensitive soliloquy into a bawdy, end of the pier, northern club comic’s show, and, so, the scene for conflict is set.

Rufus Jones’ script is skilfully written with plenty of funny and clever lines, such as Dennis’ furious comment to his dad: “You are trying to turn the Pleasance into a part-time comedy venue.”

The highlight is, perhaps, the imaginative flashback scene, in which Dennis turns into his mother as his father woos her in the ballroom of the Cleethorpes Winter Gardens, culminating in a romantic smooch between the young lovebirds.

The acting is strong throughout and the lighting and sound are supportive to the production.