THE ASSOCIATE. Bolton/Sheffield. To 21 September.
Sheffield
THE ASSOCIATE
by Simon Bent
National Theatre Company at The Crucible Theatre 17-21 September2002
Runs 2hr 5min One interval
TICKETS 0114 249 6000
Review Timothy Ramsden 14 September at Octagon Theatre, Bolton
An entertaining, skilfully-developed story, amusing then gripping, through which emerge three well counterpoised characters. A little-publicised feature of the National Theatre's 2002 summer 'Transformation' season has been its links to the world beyond the South Bank. Two shows out of five in the redesigned Lyttelton Theatre are to be toured next year by their co-producing companies, Trestle and Mamaloucos.
And several of the new plays in the Lyttelton Loft - which has demonstrated how valuable a space it has already become - are taking trips out to theatres around England.
Simon Bent's new play certainly deserves such wider distribution. Say it's about three men - one old, two young, power shifting between them - in a dilapidated room. Add that one of the young men is volatile and potentially violent in behaviour, the other more thoughtful; say too that Bent uses surface realism above unlikely events and Pinter's The Caretaker might come to mind.
But Bent sails closer to the stream of realism. And he's up-to-date in the idea of two benefit-
claimants moonlighting as self-employed decorators (the older man, Watson, is tenant of the room, not seeking asylum there) while seeking a reference from their customer to gain work from the Council.
As he is in the near-casually complained-about urban terrorism that sees bombs going off, moderately harmlessly, around town. It's realistic - yet carries a disturbing strangeness that steadily grows, amplified through various details.
So, there's an elegant dining-table in the middle of the impoverished room. At the start, all three are eating a hearty chicken dinner though, if anything, it's breakfast-time.
With a matching slyness, Bent builds up apparently casual conversational references through the play into a macabre conclusion. Watson may seem set up for a victim, but the aimless, sexually and financially rootless laddos who're doing up his room even while they start planning to do him for a million quid - a sum characteristically mentioned early on as a throwaway - can't match his cunning.
Tennant's Ray may have inklings the old fellow's up to something but he's easily diverted, while Rhys presents a picture of someone whose mind has never been encouraged to work in a straight line. Between mutual squabbling and the uncertainties of their own lives, lost in the dream of their own plottings, they're routed for oblivion by Normington's quiet Watson, who has the power because he can keep a secret.
Amusing, then gripping, and an acute study of the interplay of personality - two of its characters easily recognisable, the other an enigma you might meet (if fail to recognise) anyday- the play is beautifully served by Paul Miller's production and its three finely-judged, neatly individualised performances.
Ray: Nicolas Tennant
Watson: John Normington
Tiny: Matthew Rhys
Director: Paul Miller
Designer: Jackie Brooks
Lighting: Catriona Silver
Sound: Rich Walsh
Company voice work: Patsy Rodenburg, Kate Godfrey
2002-09-15 15:00:10