DEADEYE till 18 November
DEADEYE: Amber Lone
The Door, Birmingham Rep
Birmingham Rep with Kali Theatre Co
Runs: 2h 20m, one interval at the Door till 28 October then touring
Review: Rod Dungate, 16 October 2006
Fine acting, but a script that doesn’t take us far enough
Strongly committed performances grab your attention; the company give us their all and draw us into the world of the play. We are offered insights into a crumbling world – crumbling perhaps because of the collision between West and East and the difficulty of finding a new way. However, Amber Lone’s script doesn’t take us any further than this and we’re left strangely unmoved.
Lone’s play centres around Deema; Deema is finishing college, has the chance of a good career, is tired of supporting her family and having her life filled with family chores. Her brother is addicted to drugs; her father is a charming dreamer who is always in debt because his dreams never work out. Deema is fancied by her feckless, pseudo-gangster cousin and her mother tries to hold the family together . . .
Chetna Pandya plays Deema; her performance is beautifully understated. She has a quiet strength and sense of purpose that makes us warm to her and care about her. Shane Zaza gives a fine, edgy portrayal as her drug-abusing brother. Sakuntala Ramanee, as Zainab, Deema’s downtrodden mother, is superb. She’s tall but forever hunched over; we feel her carrying the enormous weight of the family. Her outburst in the first half is truly heart-breaking, a rare glimpse of the pain she normally keeps so well hidden.
The problem with Lone’s script, though, is that, interesting as this tale is, it never seems to go anywhere. There are no real surprises, no moments of insight that change me as audience member. The effect is like watching a feature length Soap episode; we are left wanting something more.
Tariq: Shane Zaza.
Deema: Chetna Pandya.
Zainab: Sakuntala Ramanee.
Rafique: Madhav Sharma.
Jimmy: Pushpinder Chani.
Kerry: Beth Vyse.
Director: Janet Steel.
Designer: Matthew Wright.
Lighting Designer: Simon Bond.
Assistant Director: Sayan Kent.
Dialect Coach: Sarah Simmons.
2006-10-17 16:43:29