OVER THERE. To 21 March.

London.

OVER THERE
by Mark Ravenhill.

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 21 March 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 3.30pm.
Captioned 19 March.
Runs 1hr 20min No interval.

Theatrically startling but a generalised uber-statement.
This is not so much ‘in-yer-face’ as ‘up its own arse’ theatre. Being by Mark Ravenhill it has originality, surprise and strong theatrical moments; near the start a surprise transformation sets the scene for the identical twin actors playing identical twins either side of the Berlin Wall. When the wall comes down, a pile of cardboard boxes is flung aside and a character jumps on a table. The shock and elation of Berlin’s unification comes alive.

Elsewhere dramatic shorthand is used to create a piece of cold ideas that ignores the humanity around the fall of the wall. It’s hinted at: in the West Franz has seen his mother die of cancer (increasingly diagnosed as a disease of affluence), while in the East, Karl reports, their father could not survive the collapse of Communism.

But delving into human dilemmas is beyond Ravenhill’s purpose. Rather there’s a theatrically easier tension as the twins become progressively harder to distinguish until West consumes East. Along the way interesting material is touched upon, the values instilled through Communist solidarity, the comparable complexity of capitalism, with its lack of jobs, boredom in work (was Socialist employment non-stop fun?) and a consumerist choice of mediocrity. No wonder the play’s book-ended by scenes in consumer capital California.

Finally, following expected Ravenhill shocks, Karl, smeared in the nutrition-free tastes of Western sauces, is tucked into by Franz. Fraternal flesh causes initial revulsion, but is seemingly an acquired taste.

The Treadaways are physically alert and provide a rhythmic musical moment. Vocally, once the early point has been made about their saying the same thing simultaneously, the fraternal factor inhibits rather than expanding the situation, their similarity of speech rhythm and tone further depersonalising the production (the printed script, included in the programme, is less extreme, as it is in prescribing visual shocks).

Johannes Schutz’s bright white, doorless, set, backed with supermarket detritus, imprisons the actors, who become increasingly physically exposed. It’s a bold, simple statement that fits the play. But Ravenhill’s thematic sledgehammer hardly explores the experience of those who survive in, and even try to improve, reunited Germany.

Karl: Luke Treadaway.
Franz: Harry Treadaway.

Directors: Ramin Gray, Mark Ravenhill.
Designer: Johannes Schutz.
Lighting: Matt Drury.
Sound: Alex Caplen.
Music: Harry Treadaway, Luke Treadaway.
Movement: Dominic Leclerc.
Assistant director: Lydia Ziemke.

2009-03-15 13:52:06