ADVENTURES OF THE STONEHEADS: Trestle

THE ADVENTURES OF THE STONEHEADS: Toby Wilsher
Trestle Theatre: Tour – to Bury St Edmonds 27 Feb – 1 March
Runs: 2h 15m, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 25 February 2002, mac Birmingham

Trestle even better than before (and that's saying something.)
Trestle Theatre is an excellent touring company – consistently high standard of performance, full of surprises, willing to take chances. In STONEHEADS they excel themselves.

It's a haunting, magical tale of a family washed up on a sea shore (we assume Britain because we are in Britain). They have little except themselves – their adventure is to find life, work, love perhaps. But at almost every turn – fortunately there are exceptions – they are laughed at, ignored, conned and abused. Moments of caring and of love when they appear are bright stars in a bleak setting. STONEHEADS is deeply disturbing, holding a mirror up as it does to our own natures: it's most uncomfortable to not like what we see in our reflections. Having said that the final image is of friendship, understanding and generosity: we see there is a better way, the play is a stark warning of a dangerous and petty minded xenophobia.

Trestle's trade mark is its masks. Here the masks are huge whole-head masks. They are superbly expressive – gentle, harsh, humorous but above all beautiful in the extreme. How you long to touch one.

The show is serious, yes, but never heavy. Trestle delight in quirky detail: characters are often revealed by these details, women dancing, a cool black dude – a great favourite with the audience, a sullen teenage son . . . So too does this story delight in the humorously surreal – a marvellous sequence in Hades based on Orpheus but owing a debt to Hammer horror.

However many times I see Trestle I am always freshly surprised at how quickly we become comfortable with a narrative told in visual images and evocative soundscape. And I do think this is their best yet.

Milan: William Arthur
Tasha: Audrie Woodhouse
Pook: Karina Garnett
Peter: Gordon Peaston
Miki: Samantha Mason
Reni: Steven Grihault
Harry: Nicholas Chee Ping Kellington

Written and Directed: Toby Wisher
Masks: Russell Dean and Toby Wilsher
Assistant Director: Amanda Wilsher
Set and Costume: Bridget Kimak
Lighting: Mark Jonathan
Sound: Mike Wood

2003-02-27 08:38:53