SKYLIGHT by David Hare. Theatre by the Lake (studio), Keswick.
Keswick
SKYLIGHT
by David Hare
Theatre by the Lake (studio) In rep to 24 October 2001
Runs 2 hrs 30 mins One interval
TICKETS 017687 74411
Review Timothy Ramsden 11 August
Hare's arguments fogged by unequal performances
Brassneck, the 1974 play David Hare co-wrote with Howard Brenton, ends with characters toasting the last days of capitalism. Twenty years later Hare wrote this chamber piece about the new heyday of capitalism, the Britain forged by Margaret Thatcher, continued by John Major (who Hare, famously or notoriously, praised for his decency) and persisting today as the Labour party slugs out the public/private sector debate. Unlike Elizabeth I, in Skylight Hare looks through windows into his characters' souls.
Three years ago, while his wife was dying of cancer, restaurant chain entrepreneur Tom Sergeant had an affair with young Kyra Hollis. Now Kyra's renting a cramped, shabby flat in Kensal Rise and teaching in a tough East London school. Then Tom turns up one winter night. The action consists almost entirely of Tom and Kyra's arguments. She's not to be bought by his wealth, he's not going to be fobbed off by her ideals.At the Royal National Theatre, the part of Tom was created by Michael Gambon., an actor whose lightness of voice and manner can flick between vulnerability and steel (as in his other restaurant-owning character, the gangster in Peter Greenaway's film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover).
At Keswick, David Bowen's Tom veers between moments of toe-curdling beseeching and bouts of verbal aggression. Kyra's way of life may suggest idealism tipping over into masochism, but only magnetic charisma on Tom's part could prevent her showing him the door. None becomes apparent. (It's amazing too her colleague living downstairs isn't woken by all the shouting at 2.30 am).
Laura Richmond's Kyra listens and responds well, though resorting to some unconvincing cadences. But to make a debate work the opponents must be well-matched. Hare's script achieves this; but in Keswick's studio the contest is severely unequal.
Tom Sergeant: David Bowen
Edward Sergeant: Dennis Herdman
Kyra Hollis: Laura Richmond
Director: Ian Forrest
Designer: Jocelyn Meall
Lighting: Annie Emery
Sound: Paul Bunn
2001-08-13 00:41:02