HOLE IN THE HEART. To 1 February.
London
HOLE IN THE HEART
by George Eugeniou
Theatre Technis To 1 February 2004
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 5pm
Runs 1hr 40min No interval
TICKETS: 020 7387 6617
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 January
Ambitious idea let down by script and direction though with some attractive music.A century ago rich English mothers used to hand their children's daily care over to nannies. Nowadays, women, mainly poor, may find their children handed over by, and to, Nanny State. It's something George Eugeniou's play decries, using the mantle of Greek Tragedy, most particularly Medea.
Alex has a literal hole in the heart, which kills him owing to bureaucratic slip-ups. Single mother Tina's hole in the heart is metaphorical, when her daughter Rosie's torn from her. And, however big-hearted Eugeniou's play is, it - and his production - have more than enough holes to vitiate their intent.
It's legitimate, if hardly within the Greek tragedy model, to portray authority figures as uncaring, speeding-up telephone calls to show people don't listen, institutions' representatives being forever impatient or hectoring. That's how they can seem to their clients'.
But Mandy Eugeniou's Tina is an appalling mother. When not pouring treacly affection over Rosie indulging her own feelings rather than considering her child's good she's screaming blue, puce or some other violent colour murder at anyone who won't give in to her. She's a potential Neighbour From Hell, and inflicts her rage on her poor daughter's auditory system along with anyone who won't give into her.
When she joins Alex as a spirit she's transmogrified inexplicably into a serene visitant. By this time Rosie's mourning her fiancée (killed by racists) apparently by sitting swan-like amidst a lake. Her happy wedding-dance before the news hit her suggests she's inherited her mother's unreality, but otherwise she seems, at first, remarkably stable. Soon, though, she's off into the family habit of proclaiming her woes, substituting decibels for argument, and the Medea-like murder of her unborn children.
Classical tragedy threaded its long speeches on argument, action moving through words' meaning. This play plods along on flat exposition, mixed with eruptions of emotional waffle. Despite some highly theatrical moments - waving torches and shouts represent well a sense of the forces of order trying to stop Rosie's protest - the performers, of varying experience, are left to flounder by Eugeniou's stolid direction.
Tina/Sister/Claire/Linda/Chorus: Mandy Eugeniou
Alex/Mehmet: Marios Hajipanayi
Social Worker/Chorus: Sabina Cangiano
Rosie/Claire/Sister/Linda/Chorus: Karine Bedrossian
Boyfriend/Advocate/Tom/Police Inspector: Steve Aspin
Pani/Chorus: Lucy Christy
WPC/Chorus/Emily Simpson: Luci Bocchino
Little Rosie/Little Claire/Little Tina: Sophia Roy
Little Tom: Alexander Roy
John Simpson/PC/Child Psychologist: James Callachan
Director: George Eugeniou
Designer: Charline Whitley
Lighting: Robin Snowdon
Composer: Davide Mantonvani
Costume: Maroulla Eugeniou, Litsa Sekkides
2004-01-22 16:15:05