LOVELY EVENING/IN THE BLUE. To 3 April.

London

LOVELY EVENING/IN THE BLUE
by Peter Gill

Theatre 503 The Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road SW11 To 3 April 2005
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 5pm
Runs 1hr 30min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7978 7040
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 2 April

A sliver and an exercise add up to a brief but satisfying evening.Both as playwright and director Peter Gill has a scrupulous, clean-scrubbed style. Everything counts, with details given precision-tight weighting. Nothing's extraneous or merely decorative. As an actor, Daniel Evans has a similar economic, penetrating style.

So it's no surprise he's made a successful switch to directing with a couple of Gill's one-acters. This brief evening is part of Direct Action', a joint venture to create opportunities for new directors, organised jointly by 503 and the Young Vic company (whose theatre at Waterloo is currently being rebuilt).

In a sense, both Gill's plays are studies; but just as a great painter's drawings and sketches have innate interest, so do these pieces by a writer who thinks dramatically and whose style works beautifully in this format. There are plenty of words in both pieces; all are used to intensify the sense of character and inner feeling.

Lovely Evening is a sliver of romance set in pre-permissive Cardiff (Gill's home city). Young love seeks satisfaction on a raincoat among the bushes, during a night out that's simply a bus ride and a cup of coffee. Consummation, like so much, remains implied.

Back home, the older (male) generation go to their evening societies. Characters hide thoughts and feelings behind the title phrase's blandness. Father and uncle are utterly lived-in Welsh working-class, while Benjamin Davies' Laurence offers a sense of youthful freshness in a world where men took the lead. Nia Roberts beautifully mixes bashfulness and youthful itchiness, superbly catching the sense of a young, pre-liberated woman. The play's slim but implies whole lives around its characters.

Technically, the plays are linked by the device of a character who breaks out from the realism framing others. In The Blue has Michael consider, at fever pitch, the possibilities of situations after picking up Stewart. The possibilities (or is the script's by far most frequent word) cover gamuts of hope and fear, affection and argument, calling for ever-speedier definition impeccably achieved - from both performers.

Together, these plays provide an intriguing contrast of mood and style. Alone, either could contribute strongly to a programme of one-act dramas.

Lovely Evening
Harry: Phillip Joseph
Laurence: Benjamin Davies
Jimmy: Ken Oxtoby
Marion: Nia Roberts

In The Blue
Michael: Toby Dantzic
Stewart: Paul Rattray

Director: Daniel Evans
Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting: Neil Austin
Sound: Colin Pink
Assistant director: Gabrielle Jordan

2005-04-03 12:46:12