FEWER EMERGENCIES. To 1 October.

London

FEWER EMERGENCIES
by Martin Crimp

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Upstairs) To 1 October 2005
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 4pm Late Eve Thu 9.15pm
BSL Signed 27 Sept
Post-show Talk 20 Sept
Runs 1hr 10min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7565 50000
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 September

Unspeakable things may happen, but there's always someone to talk about them.There could hardly be a bigger contrast than at the Royal Court this month. Downstairs, Richard Bean's Harvest is a statement about the struggle for continuity disguised as a realistic farm-drama. Upstairs, Martin Crimp's latest enigmatic script is a play designed as the creative process.

For most of its 70 minutes 3 characters sit in a line of chairs or subsequently drape around a long table, discussing someone who progressively seems less like an actual person than a character they are dreaming-up, or devising. Yet in the middle section a 4th figure, probably the character being talked about, appears in the form of Paul Hickey's American. Prompting Neil Dudgeon's searchings for a word or phrase he sounds like the character informing his creator, bringing real feeling into the talk. It may be the impact of those regular mobile-'phone pitching' ads in cinemas these days, but the scene has the sense of film -company creatives' dreaming up their next sensation scenario.

Why a fourth person only for one section? And why does the subject switch between scenes defined only by blackout and some shifting towards the long table that's had a mention in the opening section? The 3 scenes dissolve into 3 plays, the overall title applying, and cropping up, in the 3rd. All share the calm description of violent feelings and events, on a widening scale as matters proceed.

There's a strange disassociation from events, the people on stage (it's hard to call them characters, for what character' does each of them have in their cool, suavely co-operative tones?) putting effort only into finding the next few words, no matter what about. Slight mistakes are picked up by others and offhandedly denied by their speakers, implying the possibilities of greater misconceptions and misperceptions in a world where a reduction in emergency situations is a sign of hope.

Crimp's characteristically elusive style is cool, keeping the audience at a wondering distance, then leaving its material, uneasily enigmatic, to ricochet round the mind. In these terms James Macdonald's flawlessly-played production matches the play's' spirit to a nuance.

Cast:
Rachel Blake, Neil Dudgeon, Paul Hickey, Tanya Moodie

Director: James Macdonald
Designer: Tom Pye
Lighting: Martin Richman
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Music: Mel Mercier
Company Voice Work: Patsy Rodenburg

2005-09-20 13:08:45