PLASTICINE. To 6 April.

London

PLASTICINE
by Vassily Sigarev, translated by Sasha Dugdale

Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs To 6 April 2002
Runs 1hr 20min No interval

TICKETS 020 7565 5000
Review Timothy Ramsden 27 March

Skilful direction and finely controlled performances make the most of this vision of post-Soviet urban hell.We think we have problems? Judging by Vassily Sigarev, a writer in his mid-twenties, the trouble with Social Inclusion Russian-style is finding any sort of society for the likes of his young protagonist Maksim to be included in.

This is a world of sex and violence. One character's simply called 'Woman Having Sex'; in her one short scene this character, mentally challenged and soliciting love and marriage from any passer-by, ends up with knickers flooded fore and aft by vomit and semen.

Other sexual invitations lead to a severe duffing-up from a promiscuous-seeming bride and groom and the unstable Natasha, who lures Maksim and his sometimes friend Lyokha to a den of rapists. His idealised girl neighbour turns out as loud and lewd as any.

Sigarev's first play reads like a filmscript, with huge scenic demands and point-of-view angles. Dominic Cooke solves them by using a promenade production. But, stimulating as promenade format can be, it has limitations – apparent to me since seeing a promenade Oedipus in which the lead staggered past voicing the woes of the world while dripping tomato-ketchup lookalike from his eyes.

Here, utter gutter realism is compromised by admiration for the actors' skill in weaving and staggering among audience members and landing punches on each other only centimetres from audience noses, while their obviously healthy bodies compromise the impact of street life. When a female character hits the deck, what do we make of the visible knee-pads necessary to keep her joints intact through the run?

Ian MacNeil's scaffolding creates a two-deck area for audience and actors, used flexibly, as when Maksim faces the school authorities who loom over him and the grandmother he lives with. But his teacher is corrupt; a parental bribe easily bends discipline.

Not that Maksim has a parent, living as he does on a mattress next to the water-tank at his grandmother's. She's a poor sort of carer, but she's all he has – until he loses even her.

Whatever its limitations, the rough stuff of Russian street-life is made relentlessly apparent through the admirable playing of a committed cast.

Man in Window/Sedoy: Daniel Cerqueira
Lyokha: Bryan Dick
Cadet/Groom: Matthew Dunster
Ludmila/2nd Old Woman/Woman Having Sex: Molly Innes
1st Woman/Lyokha's Mother: Liz Kettle
Maksim: Michael Legge
Grandmother/2nd Woman: Mary Macleod
Headmaster/Neighbour: John Rogan
Spira/Boy Having Sex: Russell Tovey
Tanya/Bride: Myfanwy Waring
Nastasha/Tanya's Mother: Liz White

Director: Dominic Cooke
Designer: Ian MacNeil
Costume: Joan Wadge
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Paul Arditti
Movement: Liz Ranken
Composer: Gary Yershon

2002-03-31 11:35:18