FORTY WINKS. To 4 December.

London

FORTY WINKS
by Kevin Elyot

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 4 December 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 2 Dec 3.30pm
BSL Signed 10 Nov
Post-show Talk 11 Nov
Runs 1hr 10min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7565 5000

Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 November

High detail but overly-neat drama,Throughout its short length there's a lot said in Kevin Elyot's new play - often it's fuelled by nerves or anger. Yet the impression's like someone who says little. Is it because they're deep-thinking, or that they've little to say?

Faced with such concentrated pieces, I'm often split between gratitude a writer's cut to the thematic chase and a suspicion that the focus on key moments constitutes a foregoing of the dramatist's responsibility to create character and develop it through an experience shared with the audience.

Not that every play has to do that. But very few that avoid the pattern are lasting dramas there's only one Samuel Beckett. It might be argued Elyot, aided by designer Hildegard Bechtler, deliberately offers detailed realism to undermine it by adding unrealistic elements. Howard shouts in jealous rage but ignores his wife Diana in a nearby clasp with old friend Don. Bechtler's scenery punctures its own reality, requiring three long changes during the terse evening.

Or maybe Elyot's found the wrong director in Katie Mitchell. She is, of course, a brilliant director, but at present as her Euripides showed this summer given to being European' - non-naturalistic and full of mystical things happening on stage; theatre as cryptic clues.

It certainly makes an impact as each tablet of action, in the hotel room where Don prevents a distraught Diana entering (we later discover why) or the north London home where love looks sour (Howard screaming at Diana to hurry up, cheerful but heart-damaged Charlie coming on to Don, his present lover Danny - also his cardiologist, a smoker who misjudges drugs - spending much time fitfully asleep).

Don might seem immune to all this; Dominic Rowan's perfect casting for an open, benevolent character amid the emotional gridlock. But as he's left with the sleeping teenage beauty sinister suggestions open up. A handshake is made significant, both Elyot and Mitchell being strong on such detail. The contrast between nervous wakefulness seen at the very start and sleeping life away is forceful but the situations and characters display a writer's patterning more than they breathe life.

Diana: Anastasia Hille
Danny: Stephen Kennedy
Hermia/Celia: Carey Mulligan
Charlie: Paul Ready
Don: Dominic Rowan
Howard: Simon Wilson

Director: Katie Mitchell
Designer: Hildegard Bechtler
Lighting: Paule Constable
Sound: Gareth Fry
Costume: Iona Kenrick
Associate designer: Luke Smith
Associate sound: Carolyn Downing

2004-11-10 13:56:09