SHINING CITY. To 7 August.
London
SHINING CITY
by Conor McPherson
Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 7 August 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 3.30pm
BSL Signed 30 June
Runs 1hr 45min no interval
TICKETS: 020 7565 5000
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 June
A slow-burning play that builds to a forceful impact.
The Royal Court's production of Conor McPherson's The Weir established the playwright in Britain. That play showed the inhabitants of a rural pub dislocated by the arrival of a Dublin woman. In McPherson's new piece, we're in Ireland's capital but loneliness and accounts of strange happenings still permeate the action - though the play's energy lies less in physical action (there's little) than in the cumulative force of its separate encounters.
It's framed by therapist Ian's three encounters with an older client John. Stanley Townsend gives his large-framed character an initial clumsiness - unable to work the entryphone, dropping pieces of paper around. His desolate story, involving his dead wife's ghostly presence driving him from home, reflects John's distress and guilt. Two further encounters over the following year show his life fitting, fitfully, back together Townsend's quiet, intense central-scene account of changes in John's life constitutes an extended example of immaculate realistic acting.
Between their three meetings are two encounters which complement the picture of Ian the professional, Michael McElhatton sitting with relaxed attention listening, obtruding with occasional support, calm as the spire seen through his office window, and show the stresses in his own life. There's the split he imposes on girlfriend Neasa (Kathy Kiera Clarke moving from opening aggression to lovelorn pleading). And his final encounter, dressed-down, with a male prostitute (who injured his hand setting off fireworks with his 6-year old son. There's nothing neat in these lives).
Loneliness and emotional need spread through Ian's comfortlessly large office: the therapist needs therapy. The gift-wrapped present the grateful John brings him contrasts Ian's clumsy attempts to wrap a toy for his own child.
Apart from the fine actors, the star is Mark Henderson's lighting, creating intense light pools among the dark spaces and heights, isolating, probing, focusing with superb atmospheric qualities. Between scenes (where McElhatton visibly does the scene/costume changes, as Ian attempts to re-order his life) the lighting suggests days and nights emptily passing.
McPherson's direction sustains controlled intensity till Ian's final question goes unanswered and the world the playwright evoked in The Weir startlingly haunts the closing moments.
Ian: Michael McElhatton
John: Stanley Townsend
Laurence: Tom Jordan Murphy
Neasa: Kathy Kiera Clarke
Director: Conor McPherson
Designer: Rae Smith
Lighting: Mark Henderson
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Company voice work: Patsy Rodenburg
2004-06-10 14:07:07