Anna Burnside reviews ‘a well constructed’ remount of a production from A Play, A Pie and A Pint’s initial season.
What happens when a poker widow decides to fill her late husband’s empty seat? That’s Greg Hemphill’s premise in Poker Alice, a revival from the first ever season of A Play, A Pie and A Pint in 2004.
Hemphill’s text has not aged a bit and Annie Grace holds the stage with her split time-frame narrative.
We join her in a casino in Birmingham at 2.30am at a Texas Hold’em championship. She is facing the indignity of the “bubble seat” - coming fifth, when there are only four spots with a cash prize.
(As well as a pie and a drink, this show comes with a free lesson in the phraseology of poker.)
Just as she is about to reveal her hand, Alice handbrake-turns into the backstory that brought her there. TL;DR: she married a bad un then used his book of tells to start playing poker herself.
It’s a well-constructed piece. There’s no twist option in Texas Hold’em, it’s for stud poker only, but that does not stop Hemphill adding an upsetter close to the end.
Grace, reprising her role from 20 years ago, feels a little under-rehearsed and there are a few juddery moments. But when she’s flowing, she is a believable and sparky Alice who deserves to finally be dealt a good hand.
Poker Alice performed at A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Oran Mor. The run has completed.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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