THE DIRT UNDER THE CARPET. To 24 November.
London.
THE DIRT UNDER THE CARPET
by Rona Munro.
Shunt Vaults To 24 November 2007.
Wed-Sat 6pm.
Runs 50min (total time 1hr 10min) No interval.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 24 November.
A play, a pint, a pie and a body leaves London wanting Mor.
It’s fitting Paines Plough should bring ‘A Play, A Pie and a Pint’ from Glasgow’s Oran Mor, to become London’s ‘Perfect Post-Work Prescription’. After all, Paines Plough’s named after a brewery and a pub, and they have Scottish connections (ex-Plough directors Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany have provided the National Theatre Scotland with its kickstart success and the company has long-term links with Edinburgh’s Traverse).
While this first southwards venture has only four plays for four nights each, the Glasgow operation is the most prolific producer of new plays in Scotland. They’re one-acters, under an hour. But many new writers benefit from this. And established ones can try ideas that don’t fit neatly into a longer format.
Fifty minutes is perfect for Rona Munro’s play. Just as short stories have a different pace and dimension than a novel, long or short, so this mix of murder play and discussion of life among office-cleaners works out with wry perfection at this length.
Young Lorraine still sees herself with a career in music, despite being let down by her fellow band-members. With 35-years’ office cleaning behind her, Muriel’s seen the students, actresses etc. pass through the job. Each character reacts according to their hopes and experience to the unseen, control-freak boss’s constantly critical memos, with their threats of reporting anything less than the immaculate to the cleaning company employing the women.
Sidelong, the play reflects how lowly workers become like flotsam, employed by an agency or contractor cleaning other companies’ offices for their nightly work, leaving them feeling just like the title says. The dignity of labour receives a fair battering from contracting-out.
Direct in line of sight is the dead white male’s managerial corpse (though it’s unseen onstage). His demise is the thread behind the women’s conversation. The resolution is both expected in outline and surprising in detail. But the point is the lives of the living characters.
George Perrin’s production is located perfectly in an office-like room, and also gives Londoners the chance to see two fine Scots performers of different generations, Lesley Hart and the ever-wonderful Una McLean.
Muriel: Una McLean.
Lorraine: Lesley Hart.
Director: George Perrin.
2007-11-26 11:17:10