ADRENALIN...HEART. To 9 November/ 10 April 2004.

London

ADRENALIN HEART
by Georgia Fitch

Bush Theatre To 9 November 2002 Revived with Fiona Bell as Leigh 11 March-10 April 2004
Mon-Sat 8pm
Runs 1hr 15min No interval

TICKETS 020 7610 4224
www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Review Timothy Ramsden 29 October

Play and production show that speed and lightness of touch can make a powerful emotional impact.It's hard to judge this new play's qualities, they're so enmeshed in the fine fluency of Mike Bradwell's superbly-acted production. But performer-turned-writer Fitch certainly has the actor's taste for good dialogue. She knows how to write lines that impact in audience members' heads; knows how much to say, what to leave out

And the mix of interactive speech, and comment to the audience allows a very recognisable mapping of the skewed relation between words and intentions and the way a moment can change the way we act.

It's Julia Ford's Leigh who has the main contact with spectators. There again, it's her 'scene'. Only in the play's conclusion do we realise just what this means, putting in perspective her little sideways chats to us. Ford is brilliantly controlled, working a wide range of emotions joy, surprise, risk, depression into a basically flat speech style. It's spot-on for Leigh's single mother and doer-of-good whose exciting new relationship soon tumbles her into domestic and occupational collapse.

Intriguingly, it happens against the advice of her dealer-boyfriend: but he understands she's a narcotics natural. Once arrived there, she's not going to find it easy leaving Drug Plaza. Mark Moreno has a cool forward confidence, following Leigh's audience-collaring manner just to try and blague a fag or two. Consciously projecting his presence out, where she remains vulnerably frank, he's a natural for imposing his strong personality into the hollows of her life.

For a time life is sweet. Fitch cleverly pinpoints the precipice for Leigh: the moment she first leaves her children alone at home to spend time with Angel. She worries over it, so, later, when she's lying on the floor, her casual reference to the kids being routinely left by themselves smacks home hard.

Bradwell and his cast have a pinpoint-timed light touch that registers the reality of every moment. The simplicity of Martin Reynolds' design, with its subliminal flat-block background limiting the Bush's stage space for this small-action play, suits the swift, location-swapping action and has added resonance when the true setting comes to light.

Leigh: Julia Ford
Angel: Mark Monero

Director: Mike Bradwell
Designer: Martin Reynolds
Lighting: Tanya Burns
Sound: Scott George for Aura Sound

2002-10-30 23:10:26