HUDDERSFIELD. In rep to 5 June.

Leeds

HUDDERSFIELD
by Ugljesa Sajtinac translated by Duska Radosvaijevic English version by Chris Thorpe

West Yorkshire Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre) in rep to 5 June 2004
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm
Audio-described 27 May 3pm 1 June
BSL Signed 4 June
Runs 1hr 35min No interval

TICKETS: 0113 213 7700
www.wyp.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 May

A blisteringly confrontational analysis of dislocation and dysfunction.You have to hand it to Serbian playwright Ugljesa Sajtinac; he takes on the big ones. The impact of an explosively disrupted society sits volcanically behind this dysfunctional family drama as does a mighty dramatic predecessor. His central character, Rasha's touching 30, and that's enough for a Hamlet parallel.

Rasha lives in no palace, but a squalid flat with a single mattress for sleeping usually with the Ophelia-like Millie whom he's supposed to be tutoring in Shakespeare's Everyman tragedy. She, at least, keeps mentioning it between visits to the toilet - its door ripped off in anger and sold for brandy by the play's Claudius figure. Robert Pickavance catches this character, with never a lowered or obscenity passed-by.

In contrast, mocked old Polonius transforms into young Ivan, holy innocent who's spent years in hospital and on medication. Yet the blazing intensity of the writing, in Chris Thorpe's adaptation, and of the acting in Alex Chisholm's full-fury yet humane production mean that the piece hits home, even placed against the familiar strain of such dysfunction drama from the Continent.

Home, despite the mess, is what the play's about. Father's selling it off, Ivan keeps walking in looking for somewhere to belong. Rasha no longer knows himself as he used to when young, despite the arrival of roughly Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-like Doole and Igor, but from the army rather than university. Igor, miserably relocated in rain-swept Huddersfield plans to move to Leeds. Why'd you come back? young Millie asks. Shrugging, Igor can only explain, This is where I'm from. If nothing else, this piece could calm fears about new-Europe hordes allegedly flocking to Britain.

From Huddersfield, this Euro-home seemed as sunny as the Yorkshire town does to Rasha though he's no time for those who left home. Which is where the play's heart is, for all it's an amalgam of shitting, shagging, nightmares and temper.

Alex Chisholm's production whips all this up, finding room for contrasting moments of what becomes, in this world, lyricism. John Lightbody encapsulates Rasha's indeterminism; among the fine cast Claire Lams gives Millie an angered sensitivity, while Dylan Brown's simple directness creates its own tranquil space amid the mockery and trouble.

Ivan: Dylan Brown
Millie: Claire Lams
Rasha: John Lightbody
Doole: Nick Moss
Father: Robert Pickavance
Igor: Toby Sawyer

Director: Alex Chisholm
Designer: Emma Williams
Lighting: Tim Skelly
Sound: Mic Pool
Fight director: Renny Krupinsk
Dialect coach: Mark Langley

2004-05-26 09:30:12