CHERRY BLOSSOM. To 11 October.
Edinburgh.
CHERRY BLOSSOM
by Catherine Grosvenor with Lorne Campbell, Mark Grimmer and Leo Warner.
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 1) To 11 October 2008.
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 5pm Mat 11 Oct 2.30pm.
Audio-described 7 Oct (+Touch Tour 7.15pm).
BSL Signed 7 Oct.
Runs: 1hr 30min No interval.
TICKETS: 0131 228 1404.
www.traverse.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 September.
Challenging, new and unexpected; as the Traverse should be.
What will they make of this when it transfers to Poland (Teatr Polski, Bydgoszcz 16-19 October; National Theatre Warsaw 25-26 October)? The mix of Polish and English in the spoken dialogue, and the projected translations which flow across the set as Polish and Scottish actors telling the stories of Poles arriving in Scotland and Toronto may well evoke different responses in the country many of these characters have left, and the one where they have arrived (some 40,000 Poles have come to Edinburgh since 2004).
Lorne Campbell’s production goes as far as possible to include the audience in an immigrant’s inevitable sense of alienation. Its conventions, like rules and regulations, take time to become established. That, for example, an actor does not consistently represent one character. This isn’t merely doubling; a character can be embodied by actors of either sex, the clue lying on the floor, as actors take up their place by a projection of their new character name.
Designer Leo Warner provides a neutral space, where floor-sections can arise to become doors or factory machinery, with minimal furnishings. And the admirable actors’ spare style uses the same manner whether talking directly or communicating at a distance.
Mixed with the recurrent story of Grazyna Antkiewicz are the read episodes of an account of the death of Robert Dziekanski at Toronto Airport, as culmination of a series of accidents and misunderstandings. Various others’ stories of coming to Scotland are included in the play. It is rewarding, but demandingly cerebral. This will never be immigration’s version of Cathy Come Home (the heartrending 1960s TV play about split families that lead to Shelter’s formation).
But its clean-cut clarity has a force, its theatrical tactics containing their own power. Yet an unregenerated interest in the accessible story makes the more sustained incidents memorable. Chief among these is Grazyna’s defiance of a bullying and exploitative landlord through her knowledge of the law and her rights. Sandy Grierson makes the character suitably repugnant, so his smug, then threatening character’s retreat adds a basic sense of satisfaction to a play that demands, and repays, close attention.
Cast:
Sandy Grierson, John Kazek, Marta Scislowicz, Malgorzata Trofimiuk.
Director: Lorne Campbell.
Designer: Leo Warner.
Lighting: Sergey Jakovsky.
Sound: Alasdair Macrae.
Video: Fifty Nine Productions.
Costume: Sarah Holland.
Voice, Dialect coach: Ros Steen.
Dramaturg: Lukasz Chotkowski.
Assistant designer: Henry Broadhurst.
2008-10-05 22:57:11