Tag Archives: Jai Morjaria

Cuzco

Cuzco
★★★

Theatre503

Cuzco

Cuzco

Theatre503

Reviewed – 29th January 2019

★★★

 

“A strong script keeps ‘Cuzco’ interesting, but the actors fail to live up to the words”

 

It has apparently been seven years since Theatre503 have programmed a piece of theatre in translation, and ‘Cuzco’, a poignant and symbolic play by Valencian playwright Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez, proves an intriguing way to end this hiatus.

Beginning in the Peruvian city of Cuzco, Dilek Rose and Gareth Kieran Jones play an unnamed couple on holiday, passing through Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes on their way to Machu Pichu. Told through scenes in various hotel bedrooms, the couple’s journey of self-discovery quickly turns self-destructive, and, in the end, the fate of their relationship hangs in the balance.

William Gregory’s elegant translation maintains the Spanish background of the characters, allowing the tensions between tourism and a fraught colonial history to come front and centre. As the woman, Dilek Rose wanders the cities’ streets getting into fights with tourists, but bringing an Andean boy to bathe in their hotel room is the final straw for her partner. The woman’s arch frustrated to fulfilled is well-realised and convincingly played by Rose, whereas Jones, increasingly exasperated as the man, seems monochromatic and flat. They never quite gel as a couple, meaning the slow death of their relationship feels a dull inevitability.

Kate O’Connor directs, and in conjunction with Jai Morjaria’s effective lighting, creates some lovely stage imagery, particularly in the woman’s final few scenes bathing and partying. Although the use of monologue in the script offers some eloquent prose for each actor to chew on, the decision to play these stories facing out pulls focus to the audience rather than the couple, and means the impact of the words often fails to land.

A strong script keeps ‘Cuzco’ interesting, but the actors fail to live up to the words, and considering how important chemistry is in two-handers like this, it’s a real shame. Born from the work of the Out of the Wings Collective, Gregory’s translation expertly showcases the vitality of theatre translation, and we can only hope for more theatres to programme work like this.

Reviewed by Joseph Prestwich

Photography by Holly Lucas

 


Cuzco

Theatre503 until 16th February

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Her Not Him | ★★★ | January 2018
Br’er Cotton | ★★★★★ | March 2018
Reared | ★★★ | April 2018
Isaac Came Home From the Mountain | ★★★★ | May 2018
Caterpillar | ★★★★ | September 2018
The Art of Gaman | ★★★★ | October 2018
#Hypocrisy | ★★★½ | November 2018
Cinderella and the Beanstalk | ★★★★ | December 2018

 

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Review of A Curmudgeon’s Guide to Christmas Round Robin Letters – 2.5 Stars

Robin

A Curmudgeon’s Guide to Christmas Round Robin Letters

Hope Theatre

Reviewed – 7th December 2017

★★½

“There is a reassuringly relaxed and fun quality to the pair that can’t help but draw us in”

 

As the Christmas season erupts to dominate the theatre calendar, we can look forward to a stockpile of emails and social media messages to bring in the occasion. The Hope Theatre instead chooses a different path. Focusing on the round robin letters real people have sent over the years, ‘A Curmudgeon’s Guide …’ flicks between the smug, the funny and the tragic from those who choose to update us on their year just gone.

Loosely, the piece is held together through a rough framing device. We are invited into the home of a couple, played by Kate Russell-Smith and Claire Lacey. Over time they have amassed a vast collection of letters from a variety of family, friends and far off acquaintances. They choose to share a few of them with us over the course of just under an hour.

Scott Le Crass’ production begins brightly. The lighting design from Jai Morjaria is comfortable in bathing the play in a glowing, warm tinge. There is a reassuringly relaxed and fun quality to the pair that can’t help but draw us in as they offer us treats and invite us to pull crackers. Some of the initial letters, all collected from a book by Simon Hoggart, are fun and it is a joy to hear some of the outlandishly boastful claims that families have sent over the years. But after a while the repetitious nature of mocking each letter begins to grate. This combines with a poorly developed story behind the characters that fails to draw its audience in.

In Russell-Smith and Lacey, you get the sense of real talent being wasted. Lacey brings a jagged edge to her put downs as Russell-Smith emits a lighter demeanour that is engaging to watch. But they are bogged down with a relationship that is punctuated by increasingly unrealistic stoppages, building to an ending that seemingly had the intention of drawing emotion but comes across as melodramatic and unearned. There is also a hint in parts that the show shares notes of the smugness present in quite a few of the letters.

As an idea there is potentially an interesting concept, but the narrative and conceit are far too separate in execution to make a fully coherent show. Ultimately, ‘A curmudgeon’s guide’ is a muddled package that fails to carry the fun warmth of its beginning.

 

Reviewed by Callum McCartney

Hope

 

A Curmudgeon’s Guide to Christmas Round Robin Letters

is at the Hope Theatre until 23rd December

 

 

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