BWW Reviews: SINGIN' I'M NO A BILLY HE'S A TIM, Cockpit Theatre, April 24 2013

A classic comedy set-up is to trap two characters and give them plenty to argue about. There's a bit of Fletcher and Mackay (from Porridge) and a hint of Steptoe and Son about Des Dillon's satire on sectarianism, Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim. But if you're going to be reminded of sitcoms when sitting in the stalls, they're two of the very best.

Tim is a rabid Celtic fan, an Irish Scot proud of what his culture has given Scotland. Locked up for non-payment of fines, he pleads with soft touch turnkey Harry for a chance to watch the Old Firm Derby on television through the cell window. If he rails against his confinement, that anger is as nothing when he wakes up after a snooze to find that he has a cellmate - Billy. Of course, the new man is wearing the red, white and blue and a Rangers shirt, stopping just short of the sash and bowler hat. Cue bickering and brawling, but, as time passes, reminiscences take over and ultimately, wouldn't you know it, reconcilliation prevails.

James McAnearney and David Alexander play out their two-hander with plenty of machismo, timing their laughlines amidst the banter very well with a few contemporary references "He's done me a Suarez!" thrown in . Both seem rather too intelligent and faux-hostile to really believe the bigotry of the songs they sing and the second half's reveals come as less of a surprise as a result. Wullie Brennan's jailer Harry, initially almost incomprehensible in his Glasgow drawl, steals the show as the man who shows the squabbling boys that there are things in life really worth praying for.

If elements of the play are somewhat far-fetched and if its narrative arc contains few real surprises, it doesn't pull its punches in revealing the language of bigotry that underpins the discourse of the Old Firm's rivalry. And if the conclusion is that history is much too muddy to fight over, there's plenty of humour along the way and warmth in the triumph of the human spirit and its enduring generosity.

Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim continues at the Cockpit Theatre until 27 April and is on tour.