ORPHANS till 26 September

ORPHANS: Dennis Kelly.
Birmingham Rep: 10 - 26 September.
Runs: 1h 50m, no interval.
Review: Rod Dungate, 11 September, 2009

Impressive writing and performances.
This is a most impressive play. Fast moving, occasionally darkly humorous, disturbing. Kelly shows great skill at manipulating his medium, too. This is evident in the honed and frequently circular dialogue, and in the strong sense of dramatic tension that gives the narrative a powerful dramatic tension. The play works like a thriller.

Helen and Danny are just about to tuck into a celebration dinner when they’re interrupted by Helen’s brother Danny. He’s covered in blood, having gone to the help of a young Asian lad who’s been stabbed. From this point on, step by step, Kelly unfolds his tale; a tale of a fractured society, revelations of dark spaces in our own souls. Intriguingly, the characters speech patterns reflect their society’s fractures; sentences are constantly left unfinished. Things, often too terrible to say, are left floating in the air like dark spectres at a feast.

Beautiful acting from the strong trio of actors. This is one of those scripts where you look at the words on the page and ask yourself: How do the actors do that? - make it sound so real that is. This is when writing and acting is dangerous and when it’s most exciting.

Roxana Sibert directs with a sure and sensitive hand. Though she should have encouraged the acting team to relax a bit in the opening sections; offering greater dynamic and less of a feeling of frenetic insecurity. Lighting and set are disappointing, though; they too strongly reflect the tone of the play rather than giving us an idea of the characters’ world.

But what a strong opening the The Door’s autumn season.

********

Now, a bit of a moan. Could creative teams please understand that audiences are not actors moving around a set. When we come into an auditorium we need to see where we’re going, which was near impossible in this production, though not by any means, this production alone. After the show, the person in front of me dangerously tripped on the steps, coming down. Please let us see where we’re going.

Liam: Joe Armstrong.
Helen: Claire-Louise Cordwell.
Danny: Jonathan McGuinness.

Director: Roxana Sibert.
Designer: Garance Marneur.
Lighting Designer: Chahine Yavroyan.
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie.
Assistant Director: Ben Webb.

2009-09-12 10:55:38