THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS. To 16 October.
Liverpool
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
by Tony Green
Everyman Theatre To 16 October 2004
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat 6 Oct 1.30pm 16 Oct 2pm
Runs 3hr 15min One interval
TICKETS: 0151 709 4776
www.everymanplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 30 September
Sprawling epic brings a melting-pot of humanity, life and hope but overflows at the seams.Whoever we are, when it comes to new plays we always depend on the judgement of directors. Gemma Bodinetz is prioritising new Merseyside work at the Everyman; summer's brief Fly and this contrastingly lengthy premiere indicate an emphasis on the socially and emotionally dispossessed.
Tony Green's portrait of multi-cultural Merseyside shows people who need, but only sometimes receive, kindness. Like agoraphobic Cheryl, slumped in bed and forced to pay rent by sex with slum landlord Sam (Tom Georgeson, overcast as the play's villain). Even he's let down by good-natured muscle Marvin (a convincing Mark Theodore), while restaurateur Jimmy, running a sideline fixing illegal immigrants with wives, has a warm-heart, or at least a good side. Humanity runs in the foulest gutter, and optimism seems still to blow off the Mersey, as it always has.
Green shows the human spirit sustaining Stefan Kalifa's dignified market man Samir, flickering into existence with single-mum sex worker Macy and burning brightest in the outsiders, kindly queen Cliff, ambling with gentle optimism through life, and Mohammed, new from Kurdistan.
Mark Rice-Oxley steers Cliff through the treacherous waters of being gay among life's meaner streets with a smile and immediate sympathy or barbed comment as apt for others. Adam Levy's energetic Mohammed, happy in England, somehow (more firm economic facts would etch the situation sharper) survives on Sam's minimum wage of £1.50 per hour. Only discovery of his wife's mercenary motive in marrying him upsets Mohammed's emotional apple-cart, uncontrollable fury the natural reverse of his energetic cheer.
Light shines brightest at this dark moment. Yet, without Levy and Rice-Oxley the play could have buckled under its wayward structure. Short scenes drag the story forward without revealing anything new about character. Fine for a TV series where gaps between episodes make re-acquaintance with people and their situations interesting, in a single theatrical evening it's repetitive.
Gemma Bodinetz's wide-stage production, opening out all locations simultaneously, plus an impromptu band grinding Beatles numbers flatly, suggests a style big on epic theatricality but needing more study with the dramatic microscope. And with new plays you do depend on the judgment of directors.
Jimmy: Neal Barry
Stella: Diane Burke
Macy: Lorraine Burroughs
Behrouz: Sushil Chudasama
Mdusso: Alan Cooke
Sam: Tom Georgeson
Cheryl: Denise Gough
Shpetim: Talib Hamafaraj
Samir: Stefan Kalifa
Mohammed: Adam Levy
Cliff: Mark Rice-Oxley
Marvin: Mark Theodore
Director: Gemma Bodinetz
Designer: Soutra Gilmour
Lighting: Natasha Chivers
Soiund: Sean Pritchard
Dialect coach: William Conacher
Dramaturg: Suzanne Bell
Assistant director: Nathan Miller
2004-10-04 13:11:42