William Gaminara’s comedy is set in Zurich in November 2010 when David Beckham, Prince William and David Cameron were hoping to bring the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Britain. There’s really not much sense in competing unless you are willing to be as corrupt as the other nations. Do you know the difference between a bribe and an incentive? The bid cost Britain £20 million. It was money down the drain. The decision had already been made. The money could have been better spent on hospitals and education.
Gaminara has not written a biting satire on corruption. Instead he has come up with a farce which is amusing precisely because author and actors play up to the audience’s comic ideas of three well-known people. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart doesn’t look anything like Cameron but he is a natural farceur.
The most convincing and easily the most likeable performance is by Sean Browne, who looks so like David Beckham it’s uncanny. The footballer is portrayed as being not very bright. But what is unexpected, in this farcical context, is that he is given a sad little speech