THE HIGHWAY CROSSING. To 15 July.
London
THE HIGHWAY CROSSING OR A TALE OF A GOLDEN FISH
by Jaan Tatte.
Blue Elephant Theatre 59a Bethwin Road/Thompson Avenue SE5 0XT To 1 July.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm.
then Arcola Theatre 27 Arcola Street E8 2DJ 3-15 July 2006.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 3pm.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7701 0100.
www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk (Blue Elephant).
020 7503 1646.
www.arcolatheatre.com (Arcola).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 June.
Young people in a young society tested in a crucible of loot.
It’s a bit of a cheek to introduce a play called Highway Crossing to England at a theatre tucked away in a spaghetti-knot of south London side-streets, but the voyage to Camberwell’s ever-friendly Blue Elephant is well worth-while.
First seen in 1997, the piece is also a hit Estonian film. This ex-Soviet state, about the size of Holland, has some 1.3 million people; overcrowding in parts of Estonia means being able to see your next-door neighbour’s house. So for 2 young lovers, beginning their journey to affluence but recapturing early romantic poverty by hitching a lift one dark and stormy night, to land at a remote cottage is natural enough.
Jaan Tatte plays upon a mix of real and unreal throughout, using it to guide emotional shifts. Plot improbabilities declare themselves loudly. Oswald, at whose house the young couple seek shelter, says Laura has been there a month; it turns out he’s obsessed by her photograph in a magazine - a picture she knew nothing of. There are unlikely, plot-convenient comings and goings, while the final arrival of a mystery man with pizza is the sort of coincidence no respecting plotter would permit (the others had ordered pizzas, but those never arrive).
Such unlikelihoods are thrown at the audience to test credibility while, conjuror-like, the author is creating reality elsewhere, in emotional truth. Though Oswald has a knife, as well as his obsession with Laura, and though the knife’s violently used, it’s not as might be expected. Here are people in a society suddenly faced with the possibility of immense wealth; $4 billion, stashed in Oswald’s back-room. In America that would be more than moderate affluence. In Estonia, it outdoes the national treasury.
Such eternal verities as love and loyalty melt under the white heat of wealth as Faye Hunter’s voice and features harden from tenderness to acquisition, and Cal Saville’s flowing-locks frame a face that alters from impressionable to calculating. Gary Mackay’s Oswald has a fine honesty in contrast; only Archie Whyld’s mystery man could do with more assertion. Liisa Smith’s direction has pace, emotional subtlety and wit.
Oswald: Gary Mackay.
Laura: Faye Hunter.
Roland: Cal Saville.
Man: Archie Whyld.
Director: Liisa Smith.
Designer: James Perkins.
Lighting: Kate Graham.
Music: Jaanus Putting.
2006-06-20 10:53:36