FUTURES. To 25 February.

London

FUTURES
by Rebecca Prichard

Theatre 503 503 Battersea Park Road (above the Latchmere Pub) To 25 February 2006
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 5pm
Runs 1hr 15min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7978 7040
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 February

Family relationships boldly presented on the large-scale but detail is difficult to follow with limited stage action.
There are 3 speaking parts in Rebecca Prichard’s new play. The slightest of them is the sole female, Alex (the non-speaking Doctor could be female, but is cast as male in this premiere production). Yet Alex, though she spends the first scene asleep and the second visiting her father in hospital (he has most to say) is the lynchpin, by whom both men are judged.

Alex is barely visible beneath the duvet on designer Anna Jones’ stage-filling bed in the first scene. An occasional shift in position is the only sign of her existence. Around this huge bed Marc Baylis’s Paul mumbles on in a mixture of confession and self-excuse, about futures as in shares, explaining how at times he hits his wife. It’s a relationship of 2 separate people, that could amble on forever. Or not.

Jones’ big design statement for the second scene is a wrap-around white hospital curtain. Under the Doctor’s restrained observation, Alex talks to a father who might have had a stroke, or might be dead, turning the visit into Alex’s playing out of her need to talk to her father.

In contrast to Paul’s mutterings and Alex’s frank questions, Garry Cooper’s Father, grizzled and deathly white, struggles to express himself. Whether words unsaid in life, or a struggle against an impaired brain, Cooper offers an explosive, compulsive performance.

Such mental storms contrast the opening scene’s sense of dull routine. Paul Higgins’ production captures the juxtaposition of moods. Prichard’s play is a poetic meditation, in classical musical terms an Adagio followed by an Allegro Furioso. Its sudden end leaves Alex’s position for the audience’s consideration. Fine, as is the need for concentration throughout.

But staying with Paul’s speech is difficult when there’s no action to provide a mental break for the audience. And the Father’s mental staggering for the correct expression keeps up the cerebral pressure for spectators. In presenting these linked yet different relationships, Prichard makes an overall dynamic dramatic statement, but with such a word-rich script the detail doesn’t unlock its secrets easily.

Paul: Marc Baylis
Father: Garry Cooper
Doctor: Robin Kirwan
Alex: Kali Peacock

Director: Paul Higgins
Designer: Ana Jones
Lighting/Sound: Phil Hewitt
Assistant director: Gene David Kirk

2006-02-13 12:29:03