SNOWBOUND. To 19 April.
London.
SNOWBOUND
by Ciaran McConville.
Trafalgar Studios (Studio 2) To 19 April 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm.
Runs 1hr 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 060 6632
www.theambassadors.com/trasfalgarstudios (24hrs, transaction fee)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 March.
Love, pain and the damnable difficulty of life.
There are some summery days among the many short scenes of Snowbound. But they’re all bound towards the snow of the later ones, a tone set by the white covers over the auditorium seats for West Berkshire-based Debut Theatre Company’s production at Trafalgar Studio 2. Certainly, the characters seem to be moving towards icy emotional temperatures.
And some unhappy fates. One already has learning difficulties. Another descends into alcoholism while two others have road accidents, one fatal. Lives crowded with unhappy, offstage incidents. How dangerous it is, according to writer Ciaran McConville, to belong to the self-analytical English middle-class.
There is a sense of contrivance to events, including the necessary slap in the face for hybristic happiness. The character who dies is the one who’s most alive and full of hope as events proceed towards her sudden fate. Euripides did say, call no-one happy until they’re dead.
As one character struggles with responsibilities towards a second wife and grown-up children of his first marriage, his wife takes to the bottle as an alternative companion, though McConville allows her one moment of victory with a husband whose divided loyalties are further tugged by disability.
His disability gives Alex a strong visual sense and a lead-in to looking at love through a vox pop video montage, which becomes a TV programme when Sally leaves uni and gains a job with the BBC. It neatly contrasts the strains and distresses inflicting the characters’ lives.
A mass of portraits and family photos rather pointedly covers the rear wall of Kerry Bradley’s set, disrupting Alex’s video footage. Talking about love, or posing to suggest it in a photo, is easier than the living it through life.
But McConville’s exploration of the strength people can give each other through love, and the fragility of that love’s continuance, isn’t helped by his multiple scenes. Nor is the acting in Samantha Potter’s efficient but tentative production consistently strong enough to overcome the frequent scene shifts and establish the reality of each situation. There’s enough here to make McConville’s point, not enough to stop his thematic scheme showing through.
Tom: Sam Hazeldine.
Alex: Karl Davies.
Mary: Katherine Manners.
Gerry: Patrick Brennan.
Janet: Deborah Thomas.
Clara: Linda Broughton.
Sally: Sarah Beck Mather.
Director: Samantha Potter.
Designer: Kerry Bradley.
Lighting: Nick Flintoff.
Sound: Steve Mayo.
Fight director: David Broughton Davies.
Assistant director: Tim Digby-Bell.
2008-03-17 17:15:04