With Nail and Without Nail, Camden People’s Theatre Review
Written by Bronagh for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
Content warnings: reference to themes of depression. Includes cigarettes/e-cigarettes and food/drinks consumed by performers.
Withnail and I is an absolute classic. My favourite film of all time, I quote it probably at least once a day frequently stating that ‘you have soup… why don’t I have any soup?!’. If you know, you know. When I heard of With Nail and Without Nail a feminist retelling of the cult favourite – I was intrigued and excited to head to Camden to see it for myself. After all, the only female characters in the film are a grumpy farmer and a group of school girls, who get no more than thirty seconds of screentime.
We walk into the theatre space, transformed into a Camden flat, and meet Nell (Chakira Alin) as she is making necklaces out of Cheerios on the sofa. In walks Christie (Rachel Andrews), in an Elsa costume, reeling from her afternoon as a children’s entertainer. Two struggling artists, reminiscent of Richard E Grant and Paul McGann in the film.
With Nail and Without Nail is not a complete rehashing of the film, although it is still the story of two struggling who want to get away from London. It isn’t word for word, it isn’t completely parallel with the film, instead incorporating nods to the film throughout. Unlike ‘Withnail’ and ‘I’, Nell and Christie aren’t white, privately educated men with a rich uncle that they can turn to in times of need. They’re two queer women going through the struggles of trying to become paid actors, no mention of their education or family connections.
Whilst all of this is great – we don’t need a remake of the film after all– I do feel like there were some missed opportunities to make references to the film, particularly the more famous scenes such as the visit to Uncle Monty and the visit to the pub. I do completely appreciate this is a two person show in a smaller sized theatre so there were limitations there, but I do think a few more references would have made this even funnier.
Chakira Alin and Rachel Andrews are hilarious as Nell and Christie; their lines' comedic timing and delivery are spot on. Nell’s spontaneous Oedipus Rex outburst deserves its own shout out – extremely impressive! Maria Telnikoff’s script is brilliantly funny and keeps up the momentum throughout. No dull moments whatsoever.
The centre of both Withnail and I and With Nail and Without Nail is the struggle to make it big as an artist. The not hearing back from your agent – ‘he must have died!’ – taking on numerous side jobs, the financial struggle. However, With Nail and Without Nail also reached out into some very current topics, which I’m sure many of us have seen discussed on social media and in the press, notably celebrities being cast into big roles and the lack of funding in the arts. These are important subjects in theatre-land, and I’m glad to see them being mentioned in performances, particularly those with very talented, early career performers.
Overall, I found With Nail and Without Nail to be a very funny, very promising piece of work. I would definitely recommend to anybody, fans of the film or otherwise!
☆ ☆ ☆
