Bad Ladz. New Wimbledon Theatre.

Writer and actor Niall Ransome’s well received 2017 debut play FCUK’D was a serious take on the decline of Britain’s welfare system. Bad Ladz, currently in Studio at the New Wimbledon Theatre, is set in the same impoverished and bleak northern England milieu but aims for broad comedy rather than chilling tragedy. The result is a tender and often very funny reflection on loyalty and friendship in the lives of four small-time wannabee gangsters. Think American Buffalo set on a council estate in Hull with a dash of The Play That Goes Wrong.

Darren (Jay Mailer) kidnaps Parashar (Nicholas Prasad) from the plant-based food aisle of the local Asda – this being a rundown Northern town that particular part of the supermarket is guaranteed to be free of witnesses. In Darren’s eyes Parashar, who has not returned a £20 loan, needs to learn some respect. The duo end up at the bungalow owned by best mate Mickey’s (Freddy Elletson) absent Nan. Mickey is grieving his mum (“A good woman, fit as well” opines Darren) and dreams of a better life away from the estate, but soon concurs that Parashar requires a dose of tough justice. Tony (Carl Stone), a neurodivergent neighbour with a love of ‘80s songs and tendency to break wind when he gets angry, is roped in to help.

A complication arises. Parashar’s cousin Raj (Mannuv Thiara) is a seriously hard local drug dealer who thinks the boys have something to do with £50K of his money that has gone missing. Parashar’s boss keeps calling, there are no weapons in the house save some wooden spoons and a butter knife, and Tony does not believe in violence anyway. The boys soon find the tables have turned and they have landed themselves in an increasingly perilous situation. What follows is heavy on farce, long-running fart and bottom jokes, some impressive Liam Neeson mimicry, and a pleasing helping of dextrous physical comedy.

Elletson is great as the progressively more exasperated Mickey, whose desire to hang on to his mum’s ashes at any cost may indicate more than mere filial piety. Mailer tears-up at the drop of a hat and has genuine pathos as the none-too-bright Darren whose “acrylic heel” is his sheer niceness. Thiara’s Raj provides a genuinely sinister foil as the knife-wielding thug. Director Rosa Crompton adds some welcome momentum to the dish with cleverly choregraphed comic dance transitions between scenes.

Writer: Niall Ransome

Director: Rosa Crompton