NOT KNOWING WHO WE ARE. To 30 June.

London

NOT KNOWING WHO WE ARE
by Maggie Drury

Blue Elephant Theatre To 30 June 2007
Runs 1hr 55min One interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 June

Searching for self in a stylised story.
This new play makes a strong end to the Blue Elephant’s season. Writer Maggie Drury uses familiar enough story and character lines in a fresh, sympathetic way. Robert is limited in mental ability but interested in people through the book and newspaper pictures which he alters as he re-draws them. These are his companions; even his Wife (Mark Jeary a more self-assured male carrying the label “Wife” on a pinafore) is really a projection of Richard’s thoughts.

Helping Robert is step-brother Kevin, whose own foible is repeatedly mistaking strangers for old acquaintances. These two come into contact with an apparently more regular domestic trio, but it’s one where the mother Lily has to seek comfort in stroking her neighbours’ unseen cat underneath the garden fence.

The other two characters never acquire names. Lily’s teenage daughter is unhappy at the physical advances her mother’s new man-friend disguises as “only teasing” but offers herself in brazen poses as an artist’s model to Robert. It’s among these three unhappiness lies. Robert (a fine performance from Richard de Lisle), ever-smiling, enthusiastic and hopeful of impressing, has a contented happiness that co-exists with Kevin’s urging that he make real friends.

Even the bullish Man’s contempt for, and rough treatment of, Robert’s simplicity can’t destroy this smiling search for contact. But what gives the play its power, along with dependable performances, are two things. First is Drury’s language, clipped and spare. Yet not in the way of young 1970s writers, whose telegrammatic style created abrasive conflict.

Here, the slimmed-down sentences focus on characters’ thoughts, emphasising their preoccupations, taking us close-in to their concerns. And Toria Banks’ production responds sympathetically with a measure of stylisation in performances that still leave space for enough humanity in each character’s major trait; these are humanised cartoons.

The style’s echoed in Chris Gylee’s setting. Everything: chair, café seat, bench and rubbish bin, carries its label; every bird on the skycloth surrounding the stage is named “Bird”, visualising a society where the commonest things need the effort of thought. Yet, thanks to the vigorous writing, the play never condescends to its inhabitants.

Robert: Richard de Lisle
Kevin: Richard Roberts
Girl: Nina Smith
Lily: Liv Spencer
Wife: Mark Jeary
Man: Ray Coker

Director: Toria Banks
Designer: Chris Gylee
Lighting: Natalie Jones
Sound: Robert Madden
Assistant design/Costume: Natasha Brian, Helen Schoene

2007-07-04 07:12:57