 | "Gutsy, intelligent, truly dramatic theatre" by Arthur Duncan for remotegoat on 23/02/10 |  |
This important combination of relevant drama is touring through March across southern England, then settles for a 4 weeks residency until April 24 at The Union Theatre, London SE1 0LX. [www.uniontheatre.biz]
Cheekish has snatched stage-drama back from the merely entertaining, "sing, dance & laugh-while-we-all-go-to-hell-in-a-handcart" sort of theatre, offering instead, politically relevant, "sit-up-and-feel-alive" drama that invigorates and refreshes our senses to all play our parts on the world's stage: A theatre-going experience of inestimable value.
Firm-handed director Dan Ayling [company co-founder with Whiteman] teamed with formidable accomplices, Rhiannon Newman-Brown & Sally Ferguson, designers of fear-inspiring scenery & mood-perfect lighting, aided & abetted by Daffyd Owens's haunting soundscapes, communicates with a power, greater than the sum of these 6 short dramatic parts.
The Ravenhill pieces zoom a microscope onto the minutiae of conflict: The invading soldier, gun-clutching, disoriented on foreign soil, fearful, but needing the reassurance that only true love can satisfy: The detainee, clutching her culture in lieu of her husband - a casualty of war, disoriented in her own land, fearful & needing to be alone with her grief: Mutually exclusive needs that deepen their disjointed tragedies. The futility! The horror! - And this was just the opening play.
Next, war's secret hostility; torture of a terrorist / freedom fighter - does she deserve better? Neighbourly compassion is perverted by sinister 'suits' into mindless participation in their 'regrettably necessary' brutality. Would I do better? one asks. The third playlet takes a surprising detour through what should be a harmonious domestic relationship, yet is in fact also in conflict, & as comparably irreconcilable. At this point, the interval offers time for reflection.
This is theatre fulfilling its Greek original purpose, to stimulate our understanding of humanity. Ravenhill's scripts oblige audiences to examine their attitudes & the standard of these perfor-mances does author & audience full credit.
Phillip Whiteman performs in all these short plays, including his own 'Eschara' trilogy. His focus, like Ravenhill's, is on duress & its effects upon personalities & relationships. But Whiteman builds his theme out of the shocking July 7th 2005 outrages in London.
With some appropriate humour, as is sometimes the British way with tragedy, Whiteman's trilogy exposes fictional family groups & others, whose lives have been affected by the bombings on a bus & three Underground trains. The 3 playlets chart the progress of various sets of characters, after a few days, then months & finally the first anniversary of the attack. These are moving & remarkably sensitive treatments that promise powerful ideas & enthralling scripts in future from this emerging author. Excellent acting also, from Graeme John, Daphne Kouma & Lindesay Mace.
For tour details, go to www.cheekishproductions.co.uk
| Event Venues & Times | |
| finished | Mercury Theatre | Balkerne Gate, Colchester, CO1 1PT |
| finished | Norden Farm Centre for The Arts | Altwood Road, Maidenhead, SL6 4PF |
| finished | South Hill Park | Ringmead, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 7PA |
| finished | Union Theatre | 204 Union Street, London, SE1 0LX |
| finished | New Theatre Royal | Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2DD |
| finished | Northcott Theatre | Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QB |
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