SOLD. To 17 November.

Hull.

SOLD
by John Godber and Jane Thornton.

Hull Truck To 17 November 2007.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat 7, 17 Nov 2pm.
BSL Signed 2 Nov.
Runs 2hr 10min One interval.

TICKETS: 01482 323638.
www.hulltruck.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 26 October.

Tough material gets the Truck treatment.
It’s near-inevitable the abolition of slavery bicentennial should be marked by William Wilberforce’s home-town. Admirably, Hull Truck has preferred to confront the continuing misery and cruelty of modern enslavement rather than go for the safely historical. But Sold is soft-centred, omitting the physical brutality and psychological detail of a film like Lilya4Ever, or Bodies in Transit onstage at Edinburgh’s Traverse last year.

There are other forms of slavery, but buying young women for a knock-down price that’s still enough to make impoverished east European families sell their daughters, or luring women with hopes and promises of work and wealth in the west is a large-scale trade. How large is unknown, as John Godber and Jane Thornton’s play makes clear at the outset.

The script identifies its fantasy nature in approaching reality. “Suppose…” is a recurring word. It hardly excuses the unlikely story elements, which “suppose” a mature Yorkshire journalist walks inadvertently into a London brothel (what was he looking for: a lavatory? The Houses of Parliament?). And that he’d spend a fortune buying one such woman’s freedom, without a word to his wife, out of sheer altruism.

Anya, subject of this lucky rescue, holes up in Yorkshire, forming a singing duo with journalist Ray’s truculent teenage daughter. The Moldavian Anya contrasts her new, sullen friend in a way that shows how little British youth realises its advantages.

But there’s little comparison between light, bright Anya and the huddled, despairing (and more likely) female of the show’s publicity. Despite having been taken from home, imprisoned, forced into multiple sex with strangers, within a couple of weeks of rescue she’s smiling and duetting. She’s more than a survivor, she’s a miracle. In fact, she’s beyond belief, beyond even the power of supposing.

Kasia Halpin brings a sympathetic lightness to the role, in contrast to the usual solid style of performance from the rest of Hull Truck’s cast in their black-and-white outlined characters. Yet, despite its limitations, this new play is welcome for focusing on a secret area of life that exists in the shabby secrecy of rented rooms and telephone kiosks.

Gemma/Kate: Kate Baines.
Anja: Kasia Halpin.
Amy/Elena: Annmarie Hosell.
Caz/Pat/Sonja: Julie Higginson.
Jack/Les: Gordon Kane.
Ray: Joshua Richards.

Director: John Godber.
Designer: Pip Leckenby.
Lighting: Graham Kirk.
Sound/Composer: Stuart Briner.
Costume: Samantha Robinson.
Design assistant: Lucy Campbell.

2007-11-01 09:55:47