THE GABRIELS. To 28 January.
London
THE GABRIELS
by Van Badham
Finborough Theatre To 28 January 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 3.30pm
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 4000 838 (no booking fee)
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 January
Ambitious drama exploring a fundamental matter.
Science and Art combine here, with Religion starkly involved too. Australian-born playwright Van Badham stirs a vital controversy over a stormy weekend in the isolated Gloucestershire home of a gay intellectual/artistic community. Its strength lies in both sides of the belief-divide having their voice.
Committed Christian Ginger comes with boyfriend Jude to visit his lesbian mother Bonnet, her partner Jane and fellow-member, gay science writer Jerry, who is watching his partner Allen (a lawyer by profession and amateur singer) go through the pain of voice-loss from cancer. Ginger has 2 barriers to overcome with Jude’s mother: the fact she’s not his previous girlfriend Emily, and her Christianity.
For Bonnet’s a graphic novelist whose latest work is set in a future where the fundamentalist Christian government outlaws extra-marital sex, let alone the kind of stem-cell research that might lead to cures for diseases such as Allen’s. Scenes from her book are enacted in a kaleidoscopic interplay with present-day reality, while the action’s framed by the angel Gabriel biblically striking Zacharias dumb for refusing to believe God’s message.
It makes for a complex scenario which takes time to come into focus. Once it does, there are multiple implications. Is Zacharias’ biblical punishment linked to Bonnet’s future-story as an example of religious intolerance? Or does the incapacity to believe disable people?
Sympathies aren’t always predictable. Apparent religious nut Ginger has indulged in pre-marital sex, influenced by alcohol and Jude; it’s he who announces she wishes to say grace before a meal. Gerry’s needling of Ginger (so covert she doesn’t notice) may be understandable given his grief over Allen. But Bonnet’s attacks on the girlfriend tie-in to her assertion of lesbian rights and give her the sour, limited outlook her partner Jane comments upon.
As an examination of the importance and dangers of firm beliefs, and their relation to human needs this is a fascinating play. The acting in Helen Eastman’s hard-working production is uneven but Lois Norman gives Bonnet a convincing inner drive matched by Anna Steel’s mix of conviction and accommodation to the milieu. The Finborough starts the year in ambitious style.
Lisa ‘Bonnet’ Nolan/Detective Vanderbuilt/Dr Reuben: Lois Norman
Jane Decher/Ellen Clair/Nun/Dinah/Nurse/Morrison: Sasha Mitchell
Jerry Sugerman/Yantus: Kevin Colson
Allen Debus/Detective Hamstraad/Elizabeth: Peter Leafe
Jude Richardson/Luke Hall: Declan Harvey
Miranda ‘Ginger’ Scott-Taggart/Lee: Anna Steel
Kylie Nolan/ Talitha Clair: Polly Conway
Director: Helen Eastman
Designer: James Cotterill
Lighting: Neill Brinkworth
Sound: Matt Downing
Costume: Ian Griffiths
Assistant director: Michael Longhurst
2006-01-11 16:18:43