The 'Pillars of Hercules' swathed in black PVC, neon lights beckoning punters down to fantasy massage bar, drugs openly sold from the stage, yes it's Shakespeare' s Globe's first outing with a new drama set in contemporary Britain. The very notion of a modern play set in the here-and-now ruffled the doublets of some of the commentators, but anyone who saw The Frontline on the press night witnessed an audience in thrall, thoroughly captivated by a bawdy production high on talent and high on music. And for those who still quibble, the playwright Ché Walker did put in an apprenticeship for this role - he wrote The Frontline while acting a bit part in last year's Othello, scribbling away between scenes in the attic above the stage.
       There are twenty three characters in Frontline - there's sausage sellers, drug dealers, lap dancers, tube workers, god-botherers, desperate actors, transsexual-Amy Winehouse-impersonators, addicts, whores, thugs, killers and kids - not simply a carnival of the grotesque but apparently an average night out in Camden and all utterly at home at The Globe. It's a robust assemblage of character parts, actors talking at once, with action taking place simultaneously in three parts of the stage, dynamic, engaging, occasionally moving but also leaving an audience desperately searching for a narrative. There is witty dialogue, and great songs - as ever at the Globe the music is terrific - and Matthew Dunster's exhilarating production rips along with good humour enough to more than compensate for constant rain on the night that I saw the show, but we were all howling for a story and not even a slight thread emerged until the second half.
       Nevertheless, Beru Tessema was beguilingly mischievous as Miruts, the drug dealing son of an immigrant Ethiopian Professor now driving minicabs on London's streets. Trystan Gravelle recalled Richard E Grant's seminal role as Withnail with the bathos of his struggling actor losing his grip, and hot-dog man John Stahl was imperious in a role that saw him guide the audience through the morally challenging scenes that confronted them from the stage. If there was ever any point to be proved about the suitability of this street-level material for the venue, then it was rammed home on the point of a hypodermic, but Shakespeare was never lost for a good yarn and despite the great ensemble performances, the laughs and the songs, the edge and the energy, on this occasion, with this play, Ché Walker certainly was.
Charlie Taylor