3-1-6. To 11 March 2006

Basingstoke

3-1-6
by Euan Rose

Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke To 11 March 2006.
Mon-Sat 7.30 pm Mat 2 March 2pm, Sat 11 March 4pm
Audio-described 11 March 4pm
BSL Signed 7 March
Runs 2hr 5min One interval

TICKETS: 01256 465566
www.haymarket.org.uk
Review: Mark Courtice 27 February 2006

The potential of Talking Telephone Numbers.
Toby, an advertising executive, has a rich wife and an expensive mistress. The former is expert in shopping and gardening, and the latter is expert at sex, and is writing a story about fairies. If that isn't bad enough he has spent all his wife's money, his debts are in the hands of the bad guys, and the answer rests on a 5:2 shot at the races. It is, of course, bound to end in tears. Euan Rose's new thriller passes a beguiling 2 hours as we get there.

He has chosen to tell the tale as a series of interlocking speeches by each character in turn. Brian Friel uses the technique to create sleepy Irish villages and relationships burgeoning over time. Rose covers a concentrated six days of lying and bad behaviour. Scenes are set in three rooms inhabited by the characters who tell us what has happened. From time to time we hear one side of a phone call between them.

A tale of passion and betrayal where the characters do not touch or speak directly is the sort of challenge that people get at playwriting school, but is there any actual point in expecting an audience to be interested? Surprisingly the answer here is: yes, to some extent. Although the structure demands a certain rhythm that can become tedious as we move from bedroom to office to garden, and although the beastliness is to some extent diluted (as it is at one remove), this nasty gang are compelling in their awfulness.

John Adams has gathered three actors who manage to hold it all together. Rigorous timing and control mean they sustain character; it probably helps that these are somewhat one-dimensional characters. The pacey production drives on helter-skelter, with neat and effective staging on Elroy Ashmore's skeletal set. The passing of the hours is signalled by surtitles, a technique that does not work on film and is not much help here. The Basingstoke technical team are well up to those constant phone calls, all impeccably timed.

Heidi: Natalie Roles
Toby: Michael Lumsden
Polly: Sarah Manners
Diane PA: Joy-Amy Wigman

Director: John Adams
Designer: Elroy Ashmore
Lighting: Chris Ellis

2006-03-05 12:29:29