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Time and Tide

Time and Tide

★★★

Park Theatre

Time and Tide

Time and Tide

Park Theatre

Reviewed – 7th February 2020

★★★

 

“There are a lot of good things going on, but it feels a little too focussed on getting several points across”

 

Relish Theatre’s new play by James McDermott is set in Cromer in Norfolk, a town that is going through an influx of chain stores and cafes and, maybe, losing its soul. May, played by Wendy Nottingham, in in her fifties and runs a good old fashioned caff at the end of the pier, which may become a Pret a Manger if she sells it. Should she stay or sell up? Ken delivers bread around the town, as he has every day for forty years. What will happen to him if the traditional places close down? Nemo is about to leave and follow his dream, becoming a drama student in London. Daz is staying put, can’t see what’s wrong with Cromer, can’t see what’s right about going to college. Nobody acknowledges their feelings, but Nemo is gay and thinks he is in love with Daz, his best mate. Daz is straight, or is he?

Time and Tide got off to a rather slow start as May and Nemo prepared the cafe for opening. Their relationship was nicely established, with May’s love of old films and Nemo’s doubts creating a believable friendship between this unlikely pair. The first odd directorial decision was when the lights dimmed, and the tables were cleaned for a second time. It’s little things like this that can throw an audience off from the world of the play. ‘But Nemo just cleaned the tables with the squirty bottle and kitchen towel, and arranged the salt and pepper. Why are they doing it again?’ Sadly it wasn’t the only time more aware direction would have been advisable. Ken came in with his bread and gave an enjoyable comic focus to the scene, adding an obvious attraction to May into the mix, Paul Easom managed not to turn Ken into a stock comic character, giving him a vulnerability underneath the comedy that was likeable and sweet. It was all rather charming, but the underlying litany of chain stores taking over the high street felt a bit artificial; more a point to be made than an integral part of the story. it is an important theme in the tale, but the lack of subtlety was wearing.

The central relationship is that of Nemo and Daz, played by Josh Barrow and Elliot Liburd. Barrow’s Nemo was delightful in his insecurity, likeable, wavering and sad. Liburd was the polar opposite, bringing a much needed energy; a loud, sweary cheeky lad down the pub. The two friends had a lot going on beneath the surface, and it had to come out. I don’t want to give away what happens, but at one point Nemo ended up on the floor, at the feet of the audience, and stayed there for quite a while. This made him invisible to at least half the room at a key point in the play. It’s a mistake often made in small theatres, and I wish directors would sit in the back row during rehearsals, with people in front of them and think about positioning.

James McDermott has written a sort of love story to old English seaside towns, as well as a story of different kinds of love between people. There are a lot of good things going on, but it feels a little too focussed on getting several points across. Director Rob Ellis almost succeeded in making it work, but someone needs to tell him that when something is thrown through a window from inside the broken glass is going to be mostly outside, not all over the floor.

 

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by Gail Harland

 


Time and Tide

Park Theatre until 29th February

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
The Weatherman | ★★★ | August 2019
Black Chiffon | ★★★★ | September 2019
Mother Of Him | ★★★★★ | September 2019
Fast | ★★★★ | October 2019
Stray Dogs | | November 2019
Sydney & The Old Girl | ★★★★ | November 2019
Martha, Josie And The Chinese Elvis | ★★★★★ | December 2019
The Snow Queen | ★★★★ | December 2019
Rags | ★★★ | January 2020
Shackleton And His Stowaway | ★★★ | January 2020

 

Click here to see our most recent reviews

 

In My Lungs

In My Lungs The Ocean Swells

★★★★

VAULT Festival 2020

In My Lungs

In My Lungs The Ocean Swells

Cavern – The Vaults

Reviewed – 6th February 2020

★★★★

 

“there is also playful joy, real warmth, and two people who we immediately like”

 

This two hander is part tale of growing up, friendship and love, part lament for the fishing industry and part meditation on the sea. It is also wholly engaging and moving. Jenny Walser and Jack Brownridge-Kelly play friends since childhood who become something more. But what happens when one of you is embedded in a place, part of it, and the other needs to get away and build a different kind of life?

He comes from a long line of fishermen, men of the sea. He’s never wanted to do anything else. She wants more, something different, and moves to the city. But they are central to each other’s lives.

There is a mystical thread of ancient ocean running through the play, woven into the present day narrative; an underpinning of deep time carried by wave and storm. The plight of fishing communities in a time when fish stocks have shrunk dramatically, creating unemployment and despair is another thread, and there is also playful joy, real warmth, and two people who we immediately like.

Grace Venning’s simple and effective set is augmented by atmospheric lighting, designed by Joe Price and by Annie May Fletcher’s soundscape that somehow mixes with the noise of trains passing overhead to evoke the wash and rumble of the ocean. The Cornish coast comes alive in this setting, populated by a community we meet through the two character’s stories and memories, and their warm Cornish Accents. It’s a lovely piece of directing from Tash Hyman, using the traverse layout effectively and supporting her actors to create a believable world and tell a very human story.

 

Reviewed by Katre

Photography by Oliver Bryant

 

VAULT Festival 2020

 

 

Click here to see all our reviews from VAULT Festival 2020