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Twitstorm, theatre review: Phew - the middle-class white man was right all along

Straining plausibility: Twitstorm is a new comedy about a furore on social media
Straining plausibility: Twitstorm is a new comedy about a furore on social media

Yep, Twitstorm really is a new comedy about a furore on social media. There’s no time for subtlety here, where an embattled middle-class white man is talking good plain common sense against the massed, overwrought forces of non-heterosexuals, non-whites and bloody women, with their tiresome careers and accusations of sexual harassment. Central character Guy Manton (Jason Merrells) makes Jeremy Clarkson look like the Jeremy Corbyn of liberal sensitivities.

I think it’s safe to say that writer Chris England is vexed by the idea of political correctness. Vexed and then some, but that is no reason for him to vent his considerable anger on basic plot plausibility for Jonathan Lewis’s production.

So, Guy is a ‘national treasure’, the host of a television comedy panel show, his wife Bex (Claire Goose) writes pink books with shoes on the cover and out of the blue Ike (Tom Moutchi) turns up at their house, claiming to be one of the children they used to sponsor in Africa. With barely a ripple of demur, he’s allowed to move straight in.

If that strains credibility, wait until they get to the actual Twitter part. At a drunken barbecue, a dubious tweet is sent from Guy’s account, precipitating complete and lengthy meltdown among Guy’s team until, belatedly, someone recalls that they could just delete it.

The massed, overwrought forces come circling and Bex’s pink shoes look to be in jeopardy, until, finally, the woman is revealed to be fickle, the African is outed as a fraudster and the stoic middle-class white man is proved to be right all along. Phew. That was a close run thing, wasn’t it?

Until July 1, Park Theatre; parktheatre.co.uk