SECRETS AND LIES: Three Short Plays
SECRETS AND LIES
FLIGHT: Kate Shaw
FROM C TO D: Martin Drury
MATT'S SONG: Ali Oxtoby
Swan Playwrights: new writing: Rose, Kidderminster 18, 19 June: Worcester Arts Workshop, 20, 21 June
Lively, thought-provoking new writing.
Three plays were selected from among Swan Playwrights for rehearsed and no-script performances in Kidderminster and Worcester. (The group of writers was born at the Swan Theatre, Worcester and survives despite the City's closure of the theatre.)
FLIGHT centres around a young Muslim lad, Ali, detained at an airport when trying to fly to a family wedding. He chats to a clerk (her precise job is unexplained) who doesn't seem to be aware of exactly why he is detained. As a member of the audience it is likely that you make the assumption that he is wrongly accused of being a terrorist, but unsettlingly you can't make sense of the lack of security. This apparent dilemma is resolved in Shaw's script in the final moments. The play is unsettling as are the assumptions we make.
There is much lively writing here, though I'm not convinced by long sections when characters speak aloud to themselves. Interestingly the actor, himself, (Jetinder Summan) commented in the after-show discussion, that he found these moments difficult.
While Shaw's script is broadly based on psychological realism, Martin Drury's script (FROM C TO D) is, in places, highly stylised. He deals with the both funny and moving situation of a not-so-young, successful business woman meeting an equally not-so-young man for an 'agency' date. Drury is well in command of his theatrical medium and demonstrates he can write on several levels at once. He shows a sharp wit too.
I feel his man is not as well drawn as the woman, is too unsympathetic. Val Harrison fills out C marvellously, contained, dignified, human and a tad vulnerable despite her confidence.
And talking of vulnerable, Daniel Hawthorne as the central character in MATT'S SONG would break your heart. Oxtoby's play deals with grief in Davey's case the sudden death of a much admired older brother. Davey meets with two friends each year to remember the dead brother. Oxtoby explores the pain of coming to terms with grief and having to let it go. In doing this she walks the difficult tightrope between comedy and tragedy for the most part successfully.
A full and interesting discussion followed the performances. Writer Martin Drury made the point that the previous night's audience had had very different views. An important lesson here we need to genuinely take note of people's views, then work them through in whatever ways we think appropriate.
FLIGHT
Ali: Jetinder Summan
Eunice: Keeley Harker
C TO D
C: Val Harrison
D: Gareth Wyn-Jones
MATT'S SONG
Chris: Ellis Creez
Anna: Georgia Clare
Davey: Daniel Hawthorne
Director: Clare Smout
Assistant Director: Derek Bond
Sound: Lance Woodman
Lights: Neil Radford
2003-06-23 15:42:48