On TV Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have made an art of the small but beautifully put together comic-horror story in the anthology series Inside No 9. At the Southwark Playhouse The Grim does a similar thing, telling a taut tale of gangland violence and morgues in around 70 mins (plus interval). They should have called it Only Fools and Hearses.
Edmund Morris (who also wrote this) and Louis Davison play Shaun and Robert, an undertaker and his assistant dealing with their latest corpse. Shaun is the bespectacled boss, a little bit young Michael Caine. Robert is his Irish underling, who sets the scene for something wicked this way coming when he tells the story of the Grim, a figure that arrives along with imminent death.
Their black comedy gallows humour banter is sparky and fun, teasing and taunting the audience into wondering what is going to happen next. When all of s sudden hardened killer Jack (Harry Carter) appears in his boxers. Except that he is supposed to be on the mortuary slab, not picking a fight with them and waving a hammer around like a lost Kray twin. This is really more about gangsters than ghouls.
Shaun has seen it all in his job, Except for this. “So this is it now, you and me running a bed and breakfast for ghosts?” Jack has some scores to settle and a gaping bullethole in his head is not going to stop him. Shaun and Robert are understandably terrified, but try to calm Jack down, offering him sweets and leftovers from a lunchbox. Decapitation, not a normal subject for comedy, is mentioned...
But Jack is determined and the action hurtles towards a menacing climax. The performers, directed by Ben Woodhall, are all strong and keep you hooked, wondering how it is going to pan out. We won’t reveal the end, which is both highly dramatic and slightly confusing. Up to that point this a neat little production, with a lean, mean script. Perhaps the final scene could have done with a little more explanation, but The Grim will, by and large, have you both grinning and gripped.
At Southwark Playhouse until December 6. Tickets and info here.
Picture by Molly Jackson-French
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