CAT'S PAW. To 4 November.

London.

CAT’S PAW
by William Mastrosimone.

King’s Head Theatre 115 Upper Street N1 1QH To 4 November 2007.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & Sun 3.30pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.

TICKETS: 020 7226 1916.
www.ticketweb.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 September.

Hostage drama that questions both sides but provides no ultimate answer.
Several of William Mastrosimone’s plays have been turned into films, and this 1984 drama is ripe for Hollywood too. It’s a tense hostage piece, includes ethical debate, undermines stances with discoveries about personal actions and includes the media within its critique as radical action leader Victor exploits dealings with TV attack-dog Jessica Lyons to promote his anti-pollution campaign.

Victor’s kidnapped an accountant from the polluting agency, the timid David Darling, who’s been subjugated by the language and routines his captors have imposed on him. Darling is one cat’s paw in the battle for media coverage, but it becomes evident Victor’s a veteran at exploiting his associates too.

With everything film would throw at the situation, it could work as a decent liberal thriller. But theatre shows up character limitations, especially in New Line Maverick Stage Productions’ revival, where director Noah Lee Margetts also plays the confident, morally dubious Victor.

His technically busy performance gives little sense of the person beneath the actions. How much is Victor deluded, purposeful, fraudulent, self-deceiving? How deep is his environmental belief, how much is it an ethical fig-leaf, along with the loud voice, beard and combat clothing, to cover a sense of inadequacy?

Richard Sandells catches Darling’s nervous collapse, up to his hunched crouch in the play’s last moments. Mastrosimone strips some of his innocent victim status from the character as Victor uncovers how even number-crunchers play a part in justifying pollution. This forms the play’s sharpest element.

There’s also a decent dissection of how public service and career ambition mix in television’s dealings with an extra-legal organisation as Victor and Jessica make multiple negotiations. He’s angling for a favourable image while she improvises arguments to keep her story’s best moments.

Kosha Engler gives Jessica a quick keenness and sleek on-camera image, while Siri Steinmo efficiently suggests the guerrilla who moves from obeying orders to thinking for herself. The play’s ethical problem lies in the inequality of the sides. Urban guerrillas are a more limited target than state-supported corruption; what do you do when peaceful protests are ignored and the water goes on being polluted?

Victor X: Noah Lee Margetts.
Jessica Lyons: Kosha Engler.
David Darling: Richard Sandells.
Cathy: Siri Steinmo.

Director: Noah Lee Margetts.
Earth Now Flag: Adrian Gee.
Lighting: Lynn Jeong, David Duffy.
Sound: Mark Estfale.
Costume: Tansy Blaik.

2007-10-02 09:24:31