PUB. To 2 July.
London
PUB
by Leila Borris, Andrew Muir, Sioned Jones, Matthew Wilkie, Rex Obano, Andrew Biss, Terry Adlam
Union Theatre 204 Union Street SE1 To 2 July 2005
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 55min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7261 9876
www.uniontheatre.co.uk
www.uniontheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 June
Union's magnificent seven' have a couple of champions.One-act plays have a different impact from full (or fuller) length ones. Anecdote-like in conciseness and punch, they need tight structuring and enough substance not to become simply sketches Well-done, they have their own, currently under-represented, place. And they provide good training for new writers. So there's a double gain in the Union Theatre's practice (in its 8th year) of putting on an evening of brief new pieces. This year's common theme is the old-style British pub.
These seven responses sometimes tend to over-explicit writing but vary refreshingly, from Andrew Biss's sketch about 2 mature gays commenting with an undertow of rivalry on their sexual conquests among the regulars, to the full-fledged plotting of Rex Obano's account of racism among the lads, with their mix of camaraderie and violence. Obano doesn't develop the imminent departure of one lad to the army in Iraq, who could give the piece shape as a fulcrum for its issues. But the various characters all develop the theme.
Leila Borris offers a study in pub life, with alcoholics either side the bar. It's quite downbeat, a situation more than a story. Sioned Jones's The Juror is a neat con-story that could gain from more complexity of incident and time to breathe but which is neatly rounded, while Terry Adlam's Karaoke Nights rounds the whole evening neatly.
Two pieces stand out, both making intrinsic use of their theatrical devices. Andrew Muir's The Waterman seems to have a pub bore rambling on to a silent, seated drinker. Eventually a point becomes clear, before the play introduces the kind of supernatural element sanctioned since The Sixth Sense emerged from Hollywood, using it to explore the speaker's moral fabric.
Similarly, the soliloquies interrupting the pub quiz in Matthew Wilkie's Horst Buchholz and Other Stories are not just a structural device. Among the fevered camaraderie and emotional fissures of a team whose leader has a special motivation for winning tonight, the solo speeches take us into each member's private domain. Focused skilfully by a question about actors in The Magnificent Seven this is a tightly-constructed, acutely-shaped little drama.
The Perseverence
by Leila Borris
Andy: Andrew Dickens
John: Andrew Obeney
Colgate: Beth Vyse
Tracey: Victoria Jeffrey
Pete: Denis Quilligan
Director: Ben De Wynter
The Waterman
by Andrew Muir
Harry: Howard Teale
Carl: Philip Lawrence
Barman: Andrew Dickens
Director: Ben De Wynter
The Juror
by Sioned Jones
Barman: Andrew Dickens
Joe: Nick Trtumble
Ray: Aidan Crowley
Claire Whelan: Beth Vyse
Big Al: Denis Quilligan
Juror: Howard Teale
Mickey: Mark Mooney
Director: Ian Groombridge
Horst Buchholz and Other Stories
by Matthew Wilkie
Jules: Victoria Jeffrey
Rich: Gary Mackay
George: Stuart Draper
Tim: Aidan Crowley
Quizmaster: Sioned Jones
Director: Jaqui Somerville
Someone's Son
by Rex Obano
Carli: Jessica Randell
David: Stewart O'Reilly
Jamie: Tom Sawyer
Rob: Paul McCaffrey
Paul: Nick Trumble
Mark: James Brough
Gary: Olayinka Giwa
PC: Andrew Dickens
Director: Michael Toumey
Cocktail Conversation
by Andrew Biss
Mike: Andrew Haslam
Jim: Philip Lawrence
Director: Sioned Jones
Karaoke Nights
by Terry Adlam
Spike: Stuart Draper
Dave: Gary Mackay
Babs: Sioned Jones
Vicky: Victoria Jeffrey
Karen: Gillian McCafferty
Len: Philip Lawrence
Jim: Andrew Haslam
Gary Oki: Andrew Obeney
Director: Sasha Regan
Designer: Agnes Hasar
Lighting: Steve Miller, Matt Leung
Sound: Lee Groombridge
2005-06-18 13:53:08