★★

“its imaginative concept is held back by underwhelming acting and superfluous layers of choreography, staging and lighting”

In a maximum-security prison, deep underground, Moira and Bheur assess a serial killer. During a set period of five days of questions and conversations, Heath Dane gradually turns the tables and forces them to examine themselves, with revealing consequences. Writer, Luke Culloty, adds a twist to this Hannibalesque story but its imaginative concept is held back by underwhelming acting and superfluous layers of choreography, staging and lighting. Instead of focusing on setting an atmospheric scene of apprehension to start with (Heath isolated in his subterranean cell, for example) we enter the theatre to the sound of birdsong and an unnecessary characterisation tableau.

It is therefore up to the cast to initiate the suspense. Molly Jones’ portrayal of Heath has a disturbing side but we miss the contrasting dimensions of a psychopath and she behaves more like a sassy playground bully. As Moira, the passive, detached evaluator, Stella Richt lacks backbone and, often inaudible, immediately comes across as the vulnerable victim. Pikson, played by Fred Woodley Evans, seems in a continuous state of nerves, presumably due to Heath’s jeering at him but nevertheless surprising for a hardened security guard. Then things begin to get confusing when Bheur (Kirsty Terry) and Evangelina Burton as Officer Oml appear, attempting to take control of the proceedings. Even Culloty himself joins them as participating director/stage manager. What should be a build-up of tension culminating in an inevitable climax feels like a sudden precipitous outburst of passion.

The lighting produces some supporting special effects but could help intensify a feeling of claustrophobic unease and also take care not to leave people speaking in the dark (though perhaps this is intentional?). A few varied fragments of music set out to illustrate Heath’s ‘genius’ mind but the abstract movement sequences do more to detract from our engagement with the action than connect the scenes and the characters lose their identity.

Understandably, new-born theatre companies are giving young talent the opportunity to perform and grow. ‘Jailbirds’ has all the potential to be a powerful piece of theatre, full of suspense and inscrutability, but it would be interesting to use experienced actors and focus on the interpretation, pacing and dynamics of the script. Less can be more.

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Photography courtesy Luke Culloty

Never Swim Alone

Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed – 28th November 2018

★★★★

“A swift and savage piece of satire”

Every so often we come across a piece of theatre that forces the audience to concentrate. Never Swim Alone, directed in this version by Alexander Hick, does just this.

A swift and savage piece of satire by award-winning Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor, Never Swim Alone pits Bill (played by Azan Ahmed) and Frank (played by Jack Dillon) against one another in a series of thirteen rounds to determine who is Top-Dog. Once childhood friends it is initially unclear why these two are at odds. Outside of a slight height difference they seem the same person, dressed in an almost identical white shirt, black suit, black socks and tie combination and carrying leather briefcases. However, as the play gathers momentum and neither man can keep the upper hand for long their competitiveness becomes steadily more visceral and disturbing.

Bill and Frank’s relationship is an absolute triumph for Ahmed and Dillon who act with their emotions tightly in check, but constantly at risk of boiling over as their conflict intensifies. The way they often speak in unison, sometimes echoing each other and at other times sharing different stories, without dropping the pace is impressive to say the least. However, the use of repetition in combination with debate style dialogue often proves difficult to follow and the audience is left guessing why a point was awarded to one man rather than the other.

Each round is refereed by a mysterious girl (played by Tabatha Gregg-Allured) who blows a whistle ahead of each round and records the points of on a whiteboard which stands in prime position for the whole audience to bear witness. It is slowly revealed that the referee is not the impartial figure she seems at first. While she does prevent things from going too far at times, she knows how to prod and manipulate their emotions. Gregg-Allured’s performance with this is subtle, sometimes depending too heavily on her whistle to portray distaste in what the men are saying. Granted, she is little more than a prop in Frank and Bill’s play, but a little more confidence would have helped her cut a more striking performance. Where she lets her emotions out, however, they work perfectly in aiding the audience in dissecting the tangle of toxic masculinity.

For the first half of the play the referee seems in control of the two men’s competition, trapped as they are in physical manifestation of their past trauma. Bill and Frank are not granted full reign of the stage but are forced to execute their ritualistic “boxing-match” in a taped-off section of the performance space. Only once the fight becomes physical is the tape removed by the referee and the skeletons of their past become visible.

Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed – 5th December 2018

★★

“its imaginative concept is held back by underwhelming acting and superfluous layers of choreography, staging and lighting”

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington

Photography courtesy Luke Culloty

Jailbirds

Etcetera Theatre until 8th December

Last ten show reviewed at this venue:

Etcetera Theatre

Reviewed – 28th November 2018

★★★★

“A swift and savage piece of satire”

Every so often we come across a piece of theatre that forces the audience to concentrate. Never Swim Alone, directed in this version by Alexander Hick, does just this.

What we are left with are two broken men, their longing for lost boyhood summers eclipsed by a struggle to prove themselves against their peers.

Reviewed by Alexandra Wilbraham

Photography by Harry Elletson

Never Swim Alone

Etcetera Theatre until 1st December

Previous ten shows reviewed at this venue: