A PICTURE OF VOICES. To 3 November.

London

A PICTURE OF VOICES
by Tim Scott-Walker

White Bear Theatre To 3 November 2002
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 4pm
Runs 1hr 20min No interval

TICKETS 020 7793 9193
Review Timothy Ramsden 20 October

An uncondescending picture of mental vulnerability benefiting from sympathetic acting.A show like this emphasises how important London's fringe theatre is – especially venues with defined artistic policies like the White Bear. The acting hasn't West End refinement -–nor West End mannerisms – but it's more than good enough to make the characters vivid. The play itself, developed from a 1990 schools' piece, is an assemblage of scenes rather than a structured, organically developing action. But it holds the attention and makes each character matter.

Which is important, because it's set in a residential home for people with mental problems. No-one, as the doctor reminds a patient, is 'mental' and Scott-Walker's laughs are never at his characters' expense. Even the author's own character, who Harvey-like sees a sizeable imaginary friend, Alphonse (made flesh in just one scene, so we see Bruce's point of view), is given a respectful logic.

And there's Zack, carting his battered little suitcase about, convinced he's not a patient but there to reconnoitre the establishment. When Dr Lee interviews him about refusing his medication, he energetically copies her note-taking with pointless scribblings in his own book, then seeks to face the medic down. But the challenge isn't sustained. His behaviour's both comic and threatening, but Jerome Wright's intensity sympathetically conveys confusion seeking certainty in an imitative, protective identity.

Shakyra Dowling gives her imagined rockstar a cool dignity, offering valuable autographs on a 60:40 split. And there's a moving relationship between the William, singing to keep voices from his head, and Charon Georgette's voluntary patient, whose apparent attacks on him develop into a sweetly caring relationship, her offer to look after him in the outside world a loose end you sense would snap very soon.

At first it looked as if we might be in for a twitchingly overdone 80 minutes. Thankfully, the performances settle, everyone playing cockeyed sanity rather than overt brain disturbance; showing rational awareness when it comes to their fellows, and self-deception on their own accounts. The exception is Kerry Godliman's doctor, a pattern of unflappable professional patience. There again, she doesn't face the ultimate test of a group game of scrabble, chess or cards.

Bruce: Tim Scott-Walker
William: Ben Abell
Georgette: Shakyra Dowling
June: Charon Georgette
Dr Lee: Kerry Godliman
Zack: Jerome Wright
Alphonse: John Woolvett

Directors: Tim Scott-Walker, Michael Ruta Moxham
Designer: John Marsh
Lighting: Robin Snowdon

2002-10-21 01:07:10