Closing Time

Billed as “a play about pubs, set in a pub,” My Own Private Submarine’s site-specific monologue, Closing Time, is exactly that – except that the show is sadly not just about pubs. “I can see Britain from behind this bar,” explains narrator Mandy early in this forty five minute monologue that aims to examine the state of the nation through the bottom of a glass but, in fact, misses the mark nearly as often as a man at a urinal.

The basic problem with writer/director Kate Webster’s show is that it offers very little more than you’d get from a short chat with your average landlord, or a particularly vocal cabbie. “Pubs,” Mandy explains, “are places you can just be with other people.” She talks about the different "types" of customer, the effect of the smoking ban, and her unfortunate hatred of football.

The show closes with a round-by-round description of a typical night out, a nice idea but sadly the level of observation doesn’t get far beyond “now the voices are getting louder” and “now people are saying what they really think.” It’s a real shame because Chandrika Chevli is convincing, energetic and likeable as landlady Mandy, and invests her story of the decline of the good old British boozer with just the right mix of nostalgia and relief.

But there’s only really twenty minutes of strong material here, as Webster stretches out each idea to its very limits, like a drunk nursing a last pint at the end of the night. Next time, one feels, she’d do well to just have a half.