The Terribly Credible Definitely Edible Tale of the Town of Cropshire ****

Heavily drawing from a very Brechtian sort of clowning, Diagnostic Trouble Code's debut play is a fantastic romp through an imagined event. It is stylistically compelling, performed with some panache and despite not having the most biting of politics it focuses on interesting intersections between agriculture, speech and the climate crisis.

The play deals with a fictional rural town Cropshire, the banning of vegetables there by a bureaucratic government, and how this decision leads to fascism. It is more interested in the bureaucracy than the fascism, with more of the play's runtime dedicated to this. There's a nice sense of allegory to this piece. Decisions that are deliberately farcical, such as the banning of vegetables, serve as metaphors for the very tangible climate crisis, and issues facing British farmers today. 

The six strong ensemble performs the material well. Eleanor Bett and Vera Majoor have most in the way of character for the majority of the play, but the other four perform the physical passages well. These could be a little more disciplined, but the shape of them does bowl you over. The company have devised some gorgeous images here. Laura Monroy-García's mime provides much of the pathos through the play. Live foley work from Daniela Mandoki is smart and really elevates affairs. 

It's a remarkably good piece of physical theatre. It is consistently inventive and often funny. I did find myself wanting them to play with the clown form more - Monroy-García starts by terrorising the audience in the pre-show perhaps we might have been a little more involved. But the text is engaging enough that this does not detract from an overall impression of the play. 

The biggest thrill of this is to see a devising team interested in form-first theatre and contemporary politics. Too often are Brecht's theories ignored and his plays performed - the most Brechtian theatre is a contemporary theatre, and this is a politically astute company. They are ones to watch, and they must continue work – it would be great to see more in the same vein, albeit with a more razor-sharp political focus. Overall though, this is an engaging hour of theatre – original, unexpected and handsomely performed.