Elling...

He’s a bright bloke that John Simm… He does cult films like Human Traffic and 24-Hour Party People, acclaimed TV dramas like State Of Play and Life On Mars, and he’s so cool he even pops up in Dr Who as the Master.

He has a knack of picking the right projects at the right time. And the Missus fancies him too. In fact if he was any sharper he’d cut himself. The multi-talented little Manc shit...

So what of his latest foray on the London stage?

Well for a start it’s an unusual project so he gets points for that. It’s an adaptation of a Norwegian absurdist comedy, which was a novel, a stage play then a film. The English stage version is adapted by Simon Bent, whose own plays include Goldhawk Road and Wasted, and it was first shown at the Bush Theatre before transferring to Trafalgar Studios where it’s currently running.

Simm plays the title character, an uptight mummy’s boy with a compulsive mental disorder who is let out of his asylum to try and adapt back to ‘normal’ life in Oslo. Back in ‘normal’ society he shares a flat with his former room-mate at the asylum and it’s basically their story of finding a life beyond the walls of their former institution.

There’s a love story of sorts, several odd-couple comedy turns and a plot about Elling becoming a poet who hides his work in sauerkraut boxes in supermarkets. There’s also the obvious gag about ‘normal’ people sometimes being more nutty that the people who are incarcerated.

Simm proves he’s a capable stage actor with a gift for comedy, his wide-eyed odd-couple partner is affectionately played by Adrian Bower (the desperate-for-a-shag games teacher in Teachers), and Ingrid Lacey, Keir Charles and Jonathan Cecil are all good value too.

But with the likes of Simm and Bent onboard you could be forgiven for expecting better. Sadly it’s not the sum of its hippest parts and you also have to wonder if it would have got half the glowing publicity it’s received without Simms’ involvement.

Having said that it’s still an enjoyable enough evening and if you fancy a laugh with its heart in the right place it’s worth a look.