GET AWAY. To 7 July.

London

GET AWAY
by Greg MacArthur

Old Red Lion 418 St John Street EC1V 4NJ To 7 July 2007
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 4pm
Runs 1hr 50min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7837 7816
www.oldredlion.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 17 June

Dark meanings with few happenings.
David is bored with town life; even his favourite music’s losing its savour. A rural retreat is called for. But this is no peaceful place; rather it’s one of dark enclosure, with sawn-off tree trunks harbouring detritus, the brightest thing a red-and-white Monopoly box recalling the garish, acquisitive hue-and-cry of the city. Nor is the retreat quite exclusive; an itinerant couple, Henry and Garbo, loiter around, before being asked in for a night, and then longer.

This pair might have stepped out of a late-sixties road movie. Life happens around them and they seem to let it, though such a closed relationship as this in Canadian playwright Greg MacArthur’s script always holds the suggestion of something deliberately unspoken. Yet the tensions underlying such a two-plus-one situation, forming a substratum all the politeness and helpful offers of the opening stages, emerge most explicitly from the host.

Long-fuse drama like this needs something to hold attention until the big bang comes. And that’s something that hardly fits the opening sense of tedium. None of the characters has the energy to provide much drive, and MacArthur clearly isn’t going down the route of plot twists or theatrical surprises.

Director David Dorrian accordingly goes for restraint. This is fine in many individual moments, and the production is more notable for these than for any sense of momentum or character development. Sheree Tams’ setting fills the Old Red Lion’s tiny stage, creating an environment both crowded and sinister, especially given the low intensity and localised lighting by Joshua Tomalin.

MacArthur states the play’s based in his own experience. Using this is said to be good for playwrights. But it needs to combine with some forward propulsion, either plot progression or thematic unveiling or character development, or some combination of these. Unfortunately, having given its basic situation, Get Away sticks around it for too long, with too little emerging most of the time.

David: Qarie Marshall
Henry: Robert Carragher
Garbo: Kira Lauren

Director: David Dorrian
Designer: Sheree Tams
Lighting: Joshua Tomalin
Sound: Sawtooth Sounds
Costume: Giulia Scrimieri

2007-07-03 17:47:46