LEAVES OF GLASS at the Park Theatre

★★★★

“Max Harrison’s staging is beautifully faithful and sympathetic to the writing.”

Memories contain errors. Memory is highly malleable; therefore, often unreliable. It can be altered by emotional state from the very second it becomes a memory. Or many years later. Yet most of us like to think our own recollections are infallible, even when we know we might be twisting it. That’s just survival, according to Philip Ridley who explores these themes in his 2007 play “Leaves of Glass”. The middle episode of his ‘Brothers Trilogy’, it was preceded by ‘Mercury Fur’ and followed by ‘Piranha Heights’.

“Leaves of Glass” centres around two brothers, Steven (Ned Costello) and Barry (Joseph Potter). Five years apart in age, but on the surface, they couldn’t be further apart from each other. Steven runs a successful graffiti removal business while Barry, despite being a bit of a dogsbody in the firm, is a struggling artist. Steven appears to have his head screwed on, whereas Barry’s is lost in drink and hallucinations. Their respective memories of their father, whom they lost at a young age, are on different tracks. Yet there are similarities that bond them. But like similar poles of a magnet, they repel each other. Their mother Liz (Kacey Ainsworth) tentatively holds them together, despite her affections wavering between the two as wildly as her own recollections. The only solid presence is Steven’s pregnant wife Debbie (Katie Eldred) who is aware of the fragility of the family, but her tolerance doesn’t stretch to assuring nothing gets broken.

The intensity of the play comes not just from the spoken word, but the silence that surrounds a traumatic incident from the brothers’ childhood that neither seems willing to talk about. When the silence snaps, the effect is shocking. The pieces come together but nothing fits, as the final battle of memories is like a duel to the death.

“Sam Glossop’s underscore splits the play’s segments like splinters of sound that throw us off balance”

The intensity of the play also undoubtedly comes from the performances. Costello and Potter both capture the inherent danger in Ridley’s script and in their characters. Costello in particular, like a brooding prisoner who never leaves the stage. Neither can escape their version of the truth – a truth that we can only keep guessing about. Eldred’s Debbie, the outsider, is more grounded but not quite strong enough to dodge the fallout from the brothers’ mind games. Ainsworth is a mix of concern and complicity as the mother who inflates her own ability to cope. ‘I’ve buried two parents and a husband’ she continually reminds us, ‘I think I’m capable of carrying some tea and biscuits’. The little hints of domesticity are a thin gauze over the deep cracks that run through this family.

Ridley’s signature is splashed all over the piece, although less shocking, and perhaps more thoughtful, than some of his other work. Max Harrison’s staging is beautifully faithful and sympathetic to the writing. Some scenes are short, like pieces of broken glass. Other scenes start when they are already up and running. They end unresolved. It is discomforting and reflects the unravelling of the minds of these four protagonists. The actors come into the scenes from different angles – as jagged as the eponymous leaves of glass. Alex Lewer’s lighting is just as evocative, swinging from harshness to near darkness like a horror film’s bare light bulb; while Sam Glossop’s underscore splits the play’s segments like splinters of sound that throw us off balance.

It is difficult to tell the difference between a lie and a truth misremembered. This family is built on both – a pretty unstable foundation to begin with. It is not always easy viewing to witness, but the craftmanship of the acting and the writing force us not to look away. Memory may be fragile, but “Leaves of Glass” will be difficult to forget.

LEAVES OF GLASS at the Park Theatre

Reviewed on 25th January 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

KIM’S CONVENIENCE | ★★★★ | January 2024

21 ROUND FOR CHRISTMAS | ★★★★ | December 2023

THE TIME MACHINE – A COMEDY | ★★★★ | December 2023

IKARIA | ★★★★ | November 2023

PASSING | ★★★½ | November 2023

THE INTERVIEW | ★★★ | November 2023

IT’S HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS US | ★★★★★ | September 2023

SORRY WE DIDN’T DIE AT SEA | ★★½ | September 2023

THE GARDEN OF WORDS | ★★★ | August 2023

BONES | ★★★★ | July 2023

PAPER CUT | ★★½ | June 2023

LEAVES OF GLASS | ★★★★ | May 2023

LEAVES OF GLASS

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★★★

“There are two fine performances from both young actors with subtle nuances of character”

Five scenes run straight through without an interval in this moving new production of Rita Kalnejais’s 2017 play set in Nazi-occupied France towards the end of the Second World War. Directed by Charles Khalil and designed by Niall McKeever, this production is a two-hander with the two supporting roles of the first production consigned to voiceovers. The scene is set with a welcoming soundtrack of French chanson that segues into German song. And then a familiar tune – Somewhere Over the Rainbow – sung first in one language and then the other.

The opening and longest scene of the play is the most successful. We meet and get to know the two characters. Elodie (Katie Eldred) is a French girl angry with her mother, anti-church, a teenage rebel who flashes her knickers at the window rather than be subdued behind a blackout. Otto (Freddie Wise) is a German soldier, no more than a boy, his father’s medals on his chest and a gun in his hand. The young couple design to meet in the bedroom of an abandoned family home. Elodie expects Mrs Levi, the Jewish owner, to soon return; Otto knows that she will not. Elodie has brought along a picnic – some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine – to share on the edge of an unkempt bed in a bare room as the village outside burns.

Elodie displays her youthful innocence with bare legs and bobby socks, her hair held back in a white band, but her knowing looks and unspoken gestures hint at her desires and to where she will lead the young soldier. It is up to Otto to follow her direction. He has been led into the war by his father, led into Nazi doctrine by Hitler, and now led into bed by Elodie. As the passive partner in this relationship, we see there are other things going on unsaid. Otto is nervous, not only because of what he hopes to get from this night, but because his head is full of daytime horrors. His quick temper hints at the onset of PTSD.

Otto expects to invade England in the morning. Elodie expects to be liberated by the Americans. We hear the shocking nature of what does happen through two poignant monologues but clumsy movement across the illuminated floor tiles inhibits the powerful nature of the narrative.

There are two fine performances from both young actors with subtle nuances of character. Katie Eldred is in full control as Elodie’s desires drive the action forward. Freddie Wise clearly shows us the mixed emotions and confusion in the mind of Otto, despite some unclear diction.

The two final scenes are short flashbacks: how Elodie and Otto first meet, and the couple waking up after their one night together but there is little new to learn. The two actors well deserve their applause at the end and share the acclaim with two charming and delightful symbols of hope and rebirth.

Reviewed by Phillip Money

Photography by Steve Gregson

LEAVES OF GLASS at the Park Theatre

★★★★

“Max Harrison’s staging is beautifully faithful and sympathetic to the writing.”

“Sam Glossop’s underscore splits the play’s segments like splinters of sound that throw us off balance”

LEAVES OF GLASS at the Park Theatre

Reviewed on 25th January 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

LEAVES OF GLASS

LEAVES OF GLASS

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 20th August 2021

★★★

“There are two fine performances from both young actors with subtle nuances of character”

Otto expects to invade England in the morning. Elodie expects to be liberated by the Americans. We hear the shocking nature of what does happen through two poignant monologues but clumsy movement across the illuminated floor tiles inhibits the powerful nature of the narrative.

There are two fine performances from both young actors with subtle nuances of character. Katie Eldred is in full control as Elodie’s desires drive the action forward. Freddie Wise clearly shows us the mixed emotions and confusion in the mind of Otto, despite some unclear diction.

Reviewed by Phillip Money

Photography by Steve Gregson

This Beautiful Future

Jermyn Street Theatre until 11th September

Previously reviewed by Phillip: