THE ABSENCE OF WAR: till 19 April
THE ABSENCE OF WAR: David Hare
Birmingham Rep: 0121 236 4455 (in repertory with Racing Demon and Murmuring Judges)
Runs: 2h 45m till 19 April, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 18 March 2003
Fascinating, a strong team, and surprisingly relevantDavid Hare's politics play proves it is a remarkable piece of writing in this production. That it was written, in part, to investigate the failure of Labour under Neil Kinnock to win the 1992 General Election fades almost into the background (a means to an end). The play is about the difficulties of obtaining political power and holding on to it. What do people vote for? What is the importance of a Leader's image? How does that Leader combine or merge their passion with statesmanlike coolness and logic? What is the place of PR in our age of mass electronic communication?
These are real issues today. Hare's debate is real, immediate and passionate, particularly in the hands of the team Jonathan Church has assembled at the Rep.
Towering over all is the imposing figure of Malcolm Storry, George Jones MP Leader of HM Opposition. Storry is a fine actor, his quiet and unpretentious demeanour belies his subtlety. Quite how he achieves the appearance of a lion unreasonably tamed and domesticated I have no idea, but achieve it he does. And his moments of high passion are thrilling. None more so than his late election speech. Here he echoes Kinnock, a remarkable speaker himself. Storry's moment of breakdown strikes like a knife through the heart.
Carolyn Backhouse as Lindsay, the new PR guru, is Storry's perfect partner. Young, slight, she surprises us with her ability to hold her own in this mostly unsympathetic world. Paul Raffield and Hugh Ross (Andrew, the minder and Oliver, the political adviser), unsympathetic characters, somehow manage to drag sympathy (better, empathy) from us.
A host of smaller roles are impressive too. Particularly David Phelan as smoothie Rottweiler TV interviewer Linus Frank and Mary Wimbush as elderly Party member Vera Klein, lost and confused by modernising influences. Then there's Alison Carney, Tory PM's wife, who says everything with no words at all.
Rt Hon George Jones MP: Malcolm Storry
Andrew Buchan: Paul Raffield
Oliver Dix: Hugh Ross
Gwenda Aaron: Linda Broughton
Mary Housego: Sara Powell
Lindsay Fontaine: Carolyn Backhouse
Rt Hon Malcolm Pryce MP: John Hodgkinson
Bruce: Paul Kemp
Rt Hon Bryden Thomas MP: Timothy Kightley
Vera Klein: Mary Wimbush
Linus Frank: David Phelan
Trevor Avery: Michael Wildman
Rt Hon Charles Kendrick MP Michael Sadler
Constable in Commons: Dominic Marsh
Carle Kendrick: Alison Carney
Floor Manager/ Liberal Leader: Jonjo O'Neill
Waitress: Alison Carney
Press, Public: Peter Arkell, Manjit Gill, Sharam Gill, Stewart Harris, Christopher Penn, Vivienne Storry
Directors: Jonathan Church and Rachel Kavanaugh
Design: Ruari Murchison
Lighting: Nick Beadle
Composer: Matthew Scott
Assistant Director: Toby Frow
Dialect Coach: Jeannette Nelson
2003-03-20 09:56:07