ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE. To 15 August.

London

ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE
by Martin Crimp

bac Studio 1 To 15 August 2004
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 5.30pm

TICKETS: 020 7223 2223
www.bac.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 July

Everything you could want in a play except plot and character. But, ultimately, they're just as present as they need to be. Read on He hath ever but slenderly known himself, an unsympathetic daughter says of King Lear. If we can't easily know ourselves, how easy is it to know anyone else? Martin Crimp addresses the question in a series of scenes that examine the difficulty of knowing someone, through separate, often contradictory, investigations. At one point they even seem to be commenting on the detached, non-narrative nature of the play only it turns out to be a discussion of pornography.

Which is one of the possible activities of Anna, the unseen, unheard-from Her of the title. Each brief scene offers a contrasting picture, attempts towards an understanding as might be made by a biographer, programme presenter, interviewer, panel discussion - or demonstration. This is of the Anya', a smart car associated with luxury and cleanliness.

Why not? Models (cars) are often sold through adverts with models (women), and the sexual features of car design and descriptions of performances in a materialist society confuse the two, personifying motors while objectifying women.

Crimp often takes situations into the surreal and metaphorical. Yet, more than individual scenes, it's the flow of disconnected mini-narratives - glimpses of biographical intent that provides the overall impact of this play, directed by Anna Tipton as winner of the James Mackenzie-Kitchin Memorial Trust Award 2004.

Though there are variable acting levels (Eileen Battye especially assured in her several roles) Tipton has found an image and style for the piece, which is played on a long strip, the back half raised behind a kind of proscenium; scenes here appear like displayed or screened exhibits. Projected scene titles flash at scenes' start or end: alienating as half the time we await a title's relevance, the other half have it encapsulate the preceding scene's focus.

Characters talk over distances, or translate; there's an amplified public announcement from happy-camper land. One scene is a showbiz song. A late narrative has the speaker stumble in a text revealed as prepared and insincere, translated into apparent gobbledygook.

There's a long wait till working out why things are like this. But it's unusual, inventive and worth the wait.

Ensemble: Sam Adams, Eileen Battye, Rendah Beshoori, David Fairweather, Martin Ritchie, Ali Sichilongo

Director: Anne Tipton
Designer/Costume: Sara Kewly
Lighting: Emma Chapman
Sound: Adrienne Quartly
Projection Design: Lorna Heavey

2004-08-01 12:40:59