ON THE SHORE OF THE WIDE WORLD.
Manchester/London
ON THE SHORE OF THE WIDE WORLD
by Simon Stephens
Royal Exchange Theatre To 14 May 2005
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Wed 2.30pm, Sat 4pm
Post-show discussion 12 May
Runs 2hr 50min One interval
then Cottesloe Theatre, London in rep
TICKETS: 0161 833 9833
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 May
A fine new play superbly played in a fine production: a Royal Exchange triumph.A new Simon Stephens play at the Royal Exchange
is bound (for those who saw the earlier work) to recall his Stockport-set Port with its luminous central performance. Wide World has no central character, its scenes mapping out the lives of a family - largely in 2 or 3 character slices, grouped in 4 sections. While the time scheme is linear through these, each asks audiences to consider one of the characters .
Not that the action focuses solely on the person named. But by highlighting each one's presence, Stephens succeeds again in making remarkable individuals out of people whose lives and indeed characters are externally mundane; the extraordinary lives in the ordinary.
Of course, it's close to soap-opera format. But Stephens never puts some lives 'on hold' to concentrate on others. And the drama consistently develops understanding of its characters. Even a scene in which someone already revealed as a drinker and wifebeater is seen turning from cringing apology to blame-shifting aggression doesn't deny the perpetrator understanding, even as it makes clear the misery of a life-partner in the relationship.
And there's an underlying optimism; despite human failings, death and the pains of love, there is a sense of people trying to do well and a stated belief (confirmed by the action) that the underlying dynamic in family relationships is towards gradual improvement.
Sarah Frankcom charts all this with fine attention to detail. She has assembled a marvellous cast. Steven Webb expresses the anguish of hopeless love for a brother's girlfriend magnificently, conveying an internal intensity that can only show itself in comparatively casual remarks. Eileen O'Brien and Siobhan Finneran delineate 2 generations of women handling the problems of married life, contrasting the happy, almost negligent sunniness of Carla Henry's younger, freer spirit, calm and smiling.
It's all played out beneath a huge half-dome skyscape. Covering the floor is a photo-map of Stockport, which melts into a space-eye shot of a terrestrial globe. It can be quite vertiginous seeing these characters moving on a King-Kong scale over their town. But there's a strong, apt sense of lives at once individual yet with social and cosmic contexts.
Admittedly, it makes for an unlocalised milieu which can make initial settling into the brief scenes and shifting couples more difficult. At the other end, however, the final coming together of the family, as the first set-piece, a table, is brought on and places laid, has an epic impact. A magnificent evening at the Exchange.
Alex Holmes: Thomas Morrison
Sarah Black: Carla Henry
Peter Holmes: Nicholas Gleaves
Alice Holmes: Siobhan Finneran
Ellen Holmes: Eileen O'Brien
Charlie Holmes: David Hargreaves
Christopher Holmes/Taxi Driver: Steven Webb
Susan Reynolds: Susannah Harker
Paul Danziger: Matt Smith
John Robinson: Roger Morlidge
Director: Sarah Frankcom
Designer: Liz Ascroft
Lighting: Mick Hughes
Sound: Peter Rice
Music: Julian Swales
Voice work:Wyllie Longmore
Assistant director: Tom Daley
2005-05-05 16:47:06