The Little Dog Laughed

I first heard about this play when one of my gay friends who I was breakfasting with at the time said ‘it’s laugh out loud funny, you have to go and see it, it’s the only piece of theatre I’ve seen in ten years that wasn’t a complete waste of time.’  This was quite a commendation.  Add to that the fact that this particular friend never gushes in this way about anything and I was sold on the idea.

The play is by Douglas Carter Beane and concerns four characters – an actor, Mitchell, his acerbic agent Diane, a hustler named Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend Ellen. When Mitchell and Alex become involved in a physical relationship, Diane is concerned that what she describes as Mitchell’s “slight recurring case of homosexuality” will derail his career before it gets started.

Interestingly, the title is a reference to the fictional short story written by Arturo Bandini in John Fante’s Ask The Dust, one of my favourite ever books, and the same title is also used for a fictional play that appears in Agatha Christie’s Three Act Tragedy.

The version currently showing at the Garrick Theatre is pitched as “Is he or isn’t he – and can an actor in the celluloid closet experience true love and career success?   Gossip and entanglements snare a rising Hollywood star and his agent in this satiric look at celebrity.”  The production has received some pretty rave reviews and not just from my breakfasting friend.  It also has a decent cast of relatively well known but not overly famous actors including Rupert Friend, beau of Keira Knightly as Mitchell, Tamsin Greig of Green Wing (yes and many others but I loved her in that) as his agent, Diane and bond girl Gemma Arterton as Ellen.  The show is running until 10th April (www.garrick-theatre.com).

Garrick Theatre

Charing Cross Road,

London,

WC2H 0HH

0870 890 1104