FAULTLINES. To 10 February.

London

FAULTLINES
by James Pearson

Union Theatre 204 Union Street SE1 To 10 February 2007
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 1hr 20min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7261 9876
www.uniontheatre.org
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 January

Sombre staging fits an intriguing play’s mood.
This play’s well-named. A hammer-blow has fractured the lives of its characters, who are all seen in light of the guilt they feel amidst the echoes of teenager Steph going missing. What’s happened is hinted at in the first scene and made explicit by the end. But James Pearson focuses on the impact on people around the missing person.

In fittingly short scenes guilt and tempers flare. Relationships and jealousies are forced into the open, as are fears and inadequacies in coping with all the pressure. Characters and situations are pieced together as the arguments and failures to find satisfaction in relationships are progressively revealed.

All this, as Elgiva Field’s production shows, is suited to the Union’s space. With just 2 rows of audience on 2 sides, the Union provides an acting space which suggests distance, thanks to Rosemary Flegg’s fragmented scenery – simple blocks: a seat, a few steps – and Ben Pacey’s lighting, subdued and creating shadowy edges, separating the lives which have become aspects of one story.

Field often places actors around the dark edges, sometimes when their characters are about to enter, at others merely giving a sense of the onstage characters’ lives being under scrutiny. Entries often have an unsettling impact, as unwanted visitors or sudden meetings often do for people under stress.

Good can, and does, emerge, but the worst side of characters are also exposed. Weaknesses lead to inertia and inaction. When positive qualities emerge, it’s generally after time’s allowed layers of anger or resentment to be worked through. And this all happens in a general mist of error, presupposition and prejudice.

Where it happens is another question. There are references to Barnsley, suggesting South Yorkshire, but this is a place where apparently there’s a history of car manufacture. Northern accents are adequate if not always finely-gradated; the regional “sen”, for standard English “self”, often doesn’t integrate properly into sentence rhythms.

Field’s cast present convincing characters, though sometimes there’s a sense there'd seem little depth to the portrayal if the surface were scratched. Still, the Union’s come up with an involving production to start 2007.

Steph: Lisa Devlin
Chris: Steven Farah
Gemma: Abigail Hood
Linda: Rebecca McQuillan
Si: Ben Nesham
Marg: Sarah Ogley
Andy: Benjamin Stanley
Steve: Shaun Stone
Joyce: Suzanne Tooney

Director: Elgiva Field
Designer/Costume: Rosemary Flegg
Lighting: Ben Pacey
Sound: Sarah Weltman
Assistant director: Linda Campbell
Assistant lighting: Renate Pohl

2007-01-27 11:02:36