Dead Dad Dog at Finborough Theatre

Going to Finborough Theatre regularly is one of my better habits and this time it was to see Dead Dad Dog. 

The reason was simple, it was a "comic smash hit in 1988, embodying the new Scottish optimism of its time". Well worth investing £20 in.

Trips to Finborough Theatre have their own rituals including eating and drinking the usual things in the usual places. 

These are still slightly modified rituals as the Finborough Arms is still out of commission and looks to remain that way for some time yet. It is a shame not having a pub close to the theatre but there are a couple close to the tube station that make adequate substitutes.

Dead Dad Dog is a simple if strange tale. A young man who has a busy day ahead of him, including a job interview and a serious date, gets visited by the ghost of his father, who everyone can see and hear, and who cannot be more than a couple of metres away from his son without causing them both severe distress.

The son not only has to deal with his dead dad following him around like a lost dog he has to cope with his dated comments.

The son goes through his planned events for the day and the unexpected presence of his dad not only provides a lot of humour, it lets us examine the relationship between the two and the differences in attitudes between the times of the dad and of the son.

It was a nicely constructed play that was funny but stopped well short of being silly and also gave the audience some things to think about.