There’s a storm brewing in the peaceful English village of Dovecot Parva, as the residents prepare to vote on whether to replace their unique version of the Royal Mail with the system familiar to every other resident of these fair islands.
The premise of Royal Pigeon Mail is that all the local mail is delivered by carrier pigeons, rather than the human postal workers that we’re used to seeing. This is referred to in the play as ‘pedestrian service’.
If you think all of this sounds like a classic Ealing Comedy, then you’d be absolutely correct. This production is absolutely channeling the ‘standing up to the petty bureaucracy that threatens our way of life’ brought to the screen in Whisky Galore, or Passport To Pimlico.
Long-term Dovecot Parva resident and Chief Pigeoneer Cooper (Thomas Cornell) has worked in the Royal Pigeon Mail service for his entire career – and his father and grandfather worked for the service previously. Cooper is assisted by Clerk Kit (Savannah Duncan), who is very earnest, but, it has to be said, at times remarkably stupid.
Alongside the devoted Cooper, and bewildered Kit, Carrier Pigeon Courier Jean (Will Sedgley) is a voice of cynicism. He appears to be behind the move to abandon Pigeon deliveries, in favour of pedestrian ones.
The small cast of just three has a lot of ground to cover here, and the script has some marvellous punning and wordplay for them to make the most of.
All of this might be an allegory for the retaining of traditions that harm no-one, and keep people in honest work. It’s also quite possibly a reflection of the sort of small rural communities that are rapidly disappearing as they’re taken over by weekenders in Air BnB’s, complaining that the quiet life that attracted them is too slow-paced.
The play is also a demonstration of the fallacy of democracy. The audience gets to vote on how the play ends. When I saw it, we voted for the status quo. This was patently absurd, because the delivery system is inefficient and wasteful. But Cooper charmed us with his appeal to tradition.
Apparently the end scene is different if the town meeting chooses to disband the service. I can only imagine Cooper’s anguish if that happens.
It is absolutely possible to forsee the possibility of this production being expanded, with more characters added. A longer story that set up everyone’s motivations more thoroughly, and allowed for an outsider to intervene (in true Ealing Comedy style), would allow for the comedy to be even more heightened than it is.
However, bringing a show to the Fringe is expensive, and The University of York Drama Society have chosen to stage the production in what will be a cheaper 40 minute slot.
A bigger budget and an expanded running time would allow for the focal characters to be developed more, although even at this stage, Edison Juniper’s writing is to be commended.
Comedy is very hard to develop, and there are a lot of very funny moments already in the script. This is a great little show, with the small cast working to extract the most from every line of dialogue, and every ridiculous set up.
This is a Titfield Thunderbolt for Pigeons. Fly to see it.
Royal Pigeon Mail continues in The Annexe at The Space @ Syposium Hall, at 17:95 daily, until August 23
Featured Image Credit: Fringe Society
