MERE MORTALS. To 24 January.
London
MERE MORTALS
by David Ives
Sure Thing Production at Old Red Lion To 24 January 2004
Tue-Sun 8pm Mat Sat 3pm
Runs 1hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7837 7816
www.ticketweb.co.uk /08700 600100 (service fee)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 January
Crazy world crazy people. David Ives' short scenes of angst and paranoia touch on drama and Absurdity, clearly on show in this production.In David Ives' world the mundane and inane interlink, revealing a paranoid landscape where perspectives shift and reality fragments, where the everyday no longer implies normality.
In Lives of the Saints two women prepare funeral food. Bent double as they labour uncomplainingly they refer to various saints, but it's they whose lives are quietly sanctified by their unselfconsciousness, till their mortality's finally brought in focus, as 2D doves are held over their heads.
Such overt theatricality counterpoints Ives' dialogue, parodying notions of realism - and reality. In Saints, mimed actions are filled-in with recorded sounds at one point The Blue Danube's mapped out in wordless song, rhythmic sounds and body movements.
In Dr Fritz a man who's (somehow) poisoned looks for a doctor. He finds a woman who may be doctor, doctor's assistant or souvenir-seller, sticking to the only chair as asserting her identity: in the doctor's chair, she must be the medic. A souvenir toy becomes a working phone, while the doctor's' manner and approach shift with her accent, from laid-back Spain to stern Germany.
In Enigma Variations language breaks down as a patient/doctor (again) conversation is duplicated by a parallel, silent pair before the scene loops back, shifting within and between the couples, picking on puns and other linguistic dislocations.
Such dislocation this time of the old thriller genre - is played out in Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage. Sexual absurdity, unconvincing motivation and consciously over-acted responses join with time-reversed action as the mystery loses credibility even as it's being solved. By now, the evening's end, it seems normal' there's been no murder at all. Just a temporary corpse.
It's in the penultimate piece, Bolero, that performances and writing reach their climax. Night-time noises through the wall build in volume, as in Ravel's orchestral piece, disturbing a couple's sleep. Urban angst and paranoia fuel each other up to a final 180-degree shift in perspective.
Kirsty Bushell and James Davis play the crescendo with taut precision. Elsewhere, performances can be rough-edged and sometimes need more room for expression to breathe, but Ives' unsettling world's never in doubt.
Edna/Bebe 1/Woman/Sarah: Kirsty Bushell
Fifi le Blanc/Man/Jerry: James Davis
Tom/Bill 2/Inspector Dexter: Alex Humes
Flo/Maria/Bebe 2/Mona: Cordelia Rayner
Bill 1/Roger: Tim Steed
Director: Tom Edmunds
Designer/Costume: Adam Stanley
Sound: Henry Scowcroft
2004-01-08 12:38:11