Review of Blavatsky's Tower
 | "Darkly comic and insightful drama" by Chris Sims for remotegoat on 21/03/10 |  |
The Blavatsky family see themselves as above the rest of the world, both spiritually and physically as they eke out their lives in self-imposed quarantine on top of a huge, dilapidated tower block designed by their dominating father, Hector. In reality, they are a mess of unspoken resentments and overpowering fears, and the arrival of a doctor from the outside world to tend to the blind and increasingly deranged Hector precipitates the collapse of their universe.
Buffini's script begins with comedy in the first act as the doctor is confronted with this collection of misfits, and grows increasingly dark as the family's world begins to fall apart and their efforts to control events grow more and more desperate. The full truth of the situation, and the true nature of the characters, unfolds gradually - the questions the audience is left with at the end of the first act are answered with great satisfaction in the second. The strength of the script is its ability to observe fine details and truths within a strong story arc and tightly defined thematic focus; its one weakness perhaps a tendency to intersperse realistic dialogue with overtly theatrical moments at odds with the characters' naivety.
The most challenging work on stage falls to the three Blavatsky siblings, and Annabel Bates, Emily Bowker and Anthony Hoskyns all rise impressively to the challenge. Bates is wonderfully natural as idealistic youngest sibling Ingrid, while Hoskyns physically and vocally inhabits the childlike and petulant Roland admirably. Bowker displays tremendous comic abilities in the first act, as oldest sibling Audrey tries to deal with the unprecedented entrance of a newcomer into the Blavatskys' lives, before descending into desperation and autocracy in the second act with equal dramatic skill. The one weaker element in the cast is Robert Wilson's doctor Tim Dunn, who seems only vaguely surprised at the bizarre lifestyles he uncovers and who does not really convince as the saviour figure he ultimately becomes - though not for all the family.
Ultimately, the perspective of the play seems to be that lofty dreams are dangerous, and that freedom can come in the most mundane and safe of forms. Not an outlook on life with which all will identify, but Blavatsky's Tower should certainly provoke reflection on the best way to live one's life - and any piece of theatre that can do that is worth making the effort to go and see.
| Event Venues & Times | |
| finished | Brockley Jack Theatre | 410 Brockley Road, Brockley, London, SE4 2DH |
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