The Space Archives - Page 11 of 23 - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★★★

“She is confident, technically brilliant, writes superbly and plays her roles entirely convincingly”

On the day of his retirement, Gordon is keen to slip into a life of white privilege, golf-playing and rugby-watching, expecting simply to wait and be waited on. To his wife, Helene, it’s now time to escape South Africa, leaving behind the terrors of pilfering maids, the violence of the disenfranchised black population – and her own imagination. It’s a short-lived debate. Despite the loss of lands, memories, dear old friends and Gordon’s flat-out ‘no’, they find themselves on a plane to New Zealand. They are an ordinary and hardly sympathetic pair, yet through their marital back and forth we get to know and like them better. Helene; bright and optimistic, with a lightly comic desperation, Gordon; leaden, stooped, but loyal and caring. Once settled in the promised land Helene thrives, Gordon declines, lost on the wrong side of his own life and yearning for home.

The script is an object lesson in writing about what you know. Robyn Paterson, an experienced TV and film performer and director south of the equator, has built up this play by listening with ruthless clarity to her own parents, and renders them both with deftness. Not only does she constantly toggle between the two throughout ninety minutes of rapid firing dialogue, she somehow word-paints the significant others in their lives in various one-sided conversations on phones and Skype. We get a sense, too, of the couple’s back story, most poignantly through Helene’s paintings of a tree outside, planted in memory of their dead son. The action itself takes us into planes, buses and a hospital room as well as their two homes, with scene changes effected endearingly by Helene herself, tidying away unwanted props in character while on the phone.

Dressed in a simple, black tee-shirt and jeans, Robyn Paterson seems to conjure up this whole world from within herself. It uses her childhood memories, her talent for mimicry and her family’s story, as well as playing all the parts; she even uses a practical lamp to operate her own light changes; The South Afreakins is a one-woman show of exceptional one-woman-ness. She is confident, technically brilliant, writes superbly and plays her roles entirely convincingly. How all this can apply to subjects other than her own family and to subjects other than white South African displacement in the 1990s, who knows? But in and of itself, this is a rare accomplishment that qualifies as a ‘must-see’.

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Tom Chaplin

The Dip

The Space

Reviewed – 1st February 2019

★★★

“It’s hard to resist the fun clearly being had here, but there is perhaps a risk of too much fun at the expense of structure and ultimately purpose”

Looking for a quiet night? This raucous performance from an ensemble of impossibly young talents won’t be what you might have in mind – but the psychedelic charms of The Dip are near irresistible.

The narrative, such as it is, is a trippy look at a night of sexual awakening. But plot is secondary here. The music is standout, with cast members seamlessly instrument-swapping (and, on the night I visited, Sophie Hammer on bass keeping a cool head when the sound tech wouldn’t play ball).

The sweetly amusing ‘kiss’ character at the start (Iulia Isar, who is consistently strong) is an indication of the playful surrealism that lies ahead. The night brings us a life-sized fish, aubergine-brandishing police and not one but two naked behinds. But anarchic comedy works best when we’re given shades of light and dark, and moments without frenzied physicality or high volume. These are pretty hard to come by here; not for nothing are we given earplugs at the start in case, we’re cheerfully told (by a staff member at this wonderfully welcoming venue), ‘we want to protect our hearing’. It’s hard to resist the fun clearly being had here, but there is perhaps a risk of too much fun at the expense of structure and ultimately purpose.

If the night is intended as a look at the complexities of figuring out sexuality and love, the tendency towards too much anarchy erodes the chance for (and fleeting moments of) real sincerity. But this is not to diminish the acting. Max Young does a great job as Nick, offering badly needed moments of levity, and Eifion Ap Cadno – on stage almost nonstop – is an effective protagonist and guide through the confusing parallel words (although it must be said: the on-stage kisses between our male leads lack chemistry. Buckle in, guys!). The cast in general are likeable, each with flashes of real warmth and humour.

Occasional forays into the realm of the totally absurd, such as an awkward stage dresser strewing bunting with a narrative of bizarre sound effects, feel like time lost that could have supported onward momentum. The risk of these detours is appearing self-indulgent; it’s easy to imagine how they must be side-splitting in the rehearsal room, but tough decisions need to be made about what can be justified in a final cut and some emotional integrity prioritised.

And some jokes naturally work better than others – the flatfish character is confused and a little overplayed, with some of the detail of his ‘backstory’ (as much as a giant fish can have one) being obscured with some missed diction (although Nick Mauldin is commendably entertaining throughout). One joke about the incestuous and downright abusive nature of the curious village our hero is stranded in is certainly a misfire, now more than ever, and has no place here.

Despite these occasional distractions, the rollercoaster seventy minute show sweeps the audience along with it and leaves us brushing party confetti from our shoulders. Infectious music and laugh out loud moments? To borrow a phrase from The Dip: baba ganoush!

The Space

Reviewed – 20th February 2019

★★★★★

“She is confident, technically brilliant, writes superbly and plays her roles entirely convincingly”

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Tom Chaplin

The South Afreakins

The Space until 23rd February

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

The Space

Reviewed – 1st February 2019

★★★

“It’s hard to resist the fun clearly being had here, but there is perhaps a risk of too much fun at the expense of structure and ultimately purpose”

Looking for a quiet night? This raucous performance from an ensemble of impossibly young talents won’t be what you might have in mind – but the psychedelic charms of The Dip are near irresistible.

The narrative, such as it is, is a trippy look at a night of sexual awakening. But plot is secondary here. The music is standout, with cast members seamlessly instrument-swapping (and, on the night I visited, Sophie Hammer on bass keeping a cool head when the sound tech wouldn’t play ball).

Despite these occasional distractions, the rollercoaster seventy minute show sweeps the audience along with it and leaves us brushing party confetti from our shoulders. Infectious music and laugh out loud moments? To borrow a phrase from The Dip: baba ganoush!

Reviewed by Abi Davies

Photography by Lidia Crisafulli

The Dip

The Space until 2nd February

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: