Meat Raffle

When his visiting son Jackson (Latimer) sits down with him in the local pub, hesitantly moving towards a grand revelation, closeted dad Rich (Hodgson) begins to fear that Jackson might be about to reveal himself as queer also, so hatches the perfect plan to show Jackson just what it means to be a real man; by rigging the pub raffle and snaffling the grand prize of a Christmas turkey for themselves.

Armstrong’s contained and concise short Meat Raffle is as absurd as it is entertaining, filled with plenty of heart and poignancy to boot. Its singular location is used to complete effect, evoking all the right looks, sounds and very nearly smells familiar to public houses up and down the country, not to mention packed, as these kinds of places that always seem too small for the amount of frequenters they get often are, with exactly the types of patrons you would expect, the whole thing making you feel like you’ve just walked in, ordered a pint and are now stood leaning on the bar watching the entire crazy saga unfold.

It’s the perfect backdrop for the kind of wild story that sounds like any tall tale you might have heard coming out of your own local. How Rich believes his ingenious plot will inform his poor progeny on what it means to be a “real man” exactly is unclear, but what is clear is that Rich isn’t exactly one for thinking things through.

After a poor attempt at bribery to rig the raffle for the prize bird in his favour falls flat, Rich, it transpires, is not above a bit of petty poultry larceny. But even the best laid plans go awry, and the whole series of events plays out as quite the farce, but Armstrong has enough skill in their storytelling that the loveable silliness of the piece never gets in the way of the deeper ideas lying underneath.

Because at the core of it all and outside of the craziness, lies a heartfelt story about self-acceptance, played out through this complex relationship between a father and a son, one that is strained under great expectation not just of each other but themselves, especially Rich, your quintessential Northern man seemingly the very epitome of gruff masculinity expected of working class men, who through Armstrong’s cleverly written subtleties and a deft and touching performance from Hodgson, we begin to understand has a much softer, sadder side, their words and actions towards Jackson not driven out of prejudice, but of fear, of not wanting his son to endure the life of a lie as he has, a man unable to admit to anyone, especially himself, who he truly is.

In only fifteen minutes, our time in this world is briefer than we might like, but with some commanding performances and a smart blend of humour and heart, one must certainly raise a glass to Armstrong’s Meat Raffle and look forward to them getting more rounds in in the future.