The Little Dog Laughed in London's Garrick Theatre

Taking a satirical view of Hollywoods cut-throat agents and closet homosexuals, ’The Little Dog Laughed,’ staged at London’s Garrick Theatre is a witty, dynamic and altogether enjoyable theatre experience.

Set in New York, the story revolves around Mitchell, an up and coming film actor, and his secret passion for men. The story is catapulted forward when he encounters and falls in love Alex, a Manhattan rent boy who doesn’t consider himself gay. The story is cleverly put together with cinematic influences in keeping with the major industry of Tinseltown. The story is effectively narrated by Diane, Mitchell’s agent, a manipulative and cynical vixen in high heels and Armani suits. Her sharp tongue cuts into her fellow cast with scathing put downs, suggesting she would ’rather give firearms to small children’ than allow a writer to do a final cut. Her best moment however comes when she is asked to keep her word. ’My Word?’ she exclaims, ’You’re asking a whore for her cherry!’

As the relationship of Mitchell and Alex deepens, Diane becomes increasingly worried about protecting her client’s secret from the gossip mongers of Hollywood’s fickle film industry - and their apparent distaste for homosexual men. Matters are complicated however, when Ellen, Alex’s friend come occasional bed buddy announces she is pregnant to the sexually confused rent boy. In the clutches of drama we wait for the sting in the tail to kill us off and are not disappointed.

Director Jamie Lloyd keeps things ticking over like a finely tuned motor, fluent scene changes, perfect comedy timing and such high-octane pace there is barely time for a pit stop from start to finish. The set is minimalistic yet effectively suits the rapid scene changes and numerous locations the character find themselves in. For comedy value, you get your money’s worth and the twist in the tale makes this enjoyable little dog all the more worthwhile.

And now for an update on work for you all to critique, I have finally finished changing the images for the tattoo removal stockport webpage. I really don’t know how I feel about this one, any criticisms are welcome