Lame drama does Tube map creator no favours

AS THE original designer of the modern Underground map in 1931, Harry Beck has probably had more lasting and beneficial impact on London’s residents and visitors than most politicians.

- The Truth About Harry Beck

Unfortunately he’s not well served by this simplistic, 70-minute two-hander, written and directed by Andy Burden of the Natural Theatre Company, chock-full of mugging, direct address and chuntering dimwittery.

Staged in a bland space beneath the London Transport Museum, it’s clearly aimed at family audiences: apart from a midweek opening night, which marked 50 years since Beck’s death, it plays Friday to Sunday. Even the most undiscerning infant, though, will clock that there’s not much exciting “truth” to be unearthed about this monomaniac graphic genius here.