BLACKBIRD To 13 November.
Keswick/Scarborough.
BLACKBIRD
by David Harrower.
Theatre By The Lake Studio In rep to 4 November 2009.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat 17 Sept.
Under-26s free 18 Sept, 9, 30 Oct.
TICKETS: 017687 74411.
www.theatrebythelake.com
then Stephen Joseph Theatre (The Round) Scarborough.
10, 12, 13 November 2009.
7.30pm.
TICKETS: 01723 370541.
www.sjt.uk.co. (Scarborough).
Runs 1hr 45min No interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 August.
A Blackbird that fails to fly.
This virtual two-hander should be an ideal studio show. Yet it was first seen in Edinburgh’s capacious King’s Theatre, directed by Peter Stein, before a mid-scale tour and the West End.
Stein’s production backed the anonymous office space where the intense re-encounter of Ray, in his fifties, and the considerably younger Una takes place, with a corridor where, from time to time, others could be seen through semi-opaque glass, creating a sense of insecurity for the edgily private verbal duel.
Like a blackbird hovering perpetually overhead, blotting out the sunlight, an encounter fifteen years ago shadows both lives in different ways. A meeting at her parents’ barbecue (nothing sinister in a chatroom) led to a sexual liaison between 12-year old Una and middle-aged Ray.
Scottish playwright David Harrower’s success lies in the ambiguity of the aftermath, underlying all the anger in Una and the self-exculpation in Ray, who’s been in prison, changed his name and restarted his life. Was it the seduction (was there a seduction?) or being apparently abandoned in a guest-house before a supposed voyage, that left the deepest scar in the young woman?
And how convincing is Ray when he talks about love and not being a paedophile? Harrower never answers, or suggests a viewpoint. This is a play about sex between adult and child that doesn’t carry a satchel of moral labels, but lets the human complexities find expression, though a final revelation ensures the black bird that can blight a life isn’t underrated.
A studio production brings intensity if it reduces the sense of alienation Stein created. With no space to see anyone outside, presences are suggested by occasional voices calling for Peter (as Ray’s renamed himself). But their tone dislocates the sense of his status as the pair stand in this litter-strewn room towards evening.
More seriously, it’s all played on a level of distressed intensity that irons out Harrower’s complexities. If Peter Maqueen’s Ray comes off better it’s probably because his greater experience enables him to find more interesting ways of handling dialogue in a production that’s often both physically and emotionally static.
Una: Janine Hales.
Ray: Peter Macqueen.
Director: Mary Papadima.
Designer: Oliver Townsend.
Lighting: Jo Dawson.
Sound: Matt Hall.
Fight director: Kate Waters.
2009-09-16 08:43:42