MR NOBODY till 28 June

MR NOBODY
by Philip Ralph

Soho Theatre To 28 June 2003
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 25,28 June
Audio-described 28 June 4pm
BSL Signed 25 June
Runs 1hr 25min No interval

TICKETS: 020 7478 0100
www.sohotheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 23 June

Gently involving story of lost souls, questioning how worthwhile it would be to be found.
Tommy meets social worker Sarah in a church-hall. Background question: why here? She wants to re-unite him with his wife. Enter Sarah, who Tommy can't remember. Of course not: he has amnesia.

Possibly. There again, possibly not. Evidence-wise, Sarah's case is sieve-scale leaky. There are enough mysterious factors to sustain a longer play than this. And Ralph plays them skilfully between his two characters. McCarthy is good; Buggy outstanding with his gentle-voiced reserve and underlying determination, basically to be left alone to sell 'The Big Issue'.

The plot turns on a taste (or lack of it) for tuna. But it's there to serve the characters. Having walked out, Tommy returns; something Sarah latches on to. The choice is stark. McCarthy's plumply garbed suburban neatness offers an ordered life of golf and pensions it's the opposite to Tommy's independence: a calmly modulated voice behind a street-rough exterior. There's no pat solution, just the presentation of need. Contentment may be achievable: happiness is asking a lot.

Whether Tommy's rejecting his past or refusing to be caught in an alien future; whether Sarah believes, rightly or (more likely?) wrongly, he's her missing Graham, is enticingly dangled before our credulity, focusing on why people look for others or avoid them. How many different readings of what these two ought to do for the best will there be in an audience?

The play's more contrived where it has to be more, over Jean's occupation. Despite Patricia Kerrigan's fine work, Jean never weighs in with the older characters. The lighter shading of her own life may be intentional, but it seems formulaic, responding too neatly to the others' situations, while the unorthodox meeting place is awkwardly explained.

As usual at the Soho, the acting's immaculate, as is Jonathan Lloyd's production, responsive to the script's phasing and handling its surprises convincingly. Soutra Gilmour's set captures a faded, institutional neglect which reflects sadness and quiet desperation, while the distant sound of school bells and children's happy playing frame the action with neat irony.

Tommy: Niall Buggy
Jean: Patricia Kerrigan
Claire: Maggie McCarthy

Director:Jonathan Lloyd
Designer: Soutra Gilmour
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Assistant director: Sarah O' Gorman

2003-06-28 09:55:13