THE LIFESAVERS. To 7 March.
London/Colchester.
THE LIFESAVERS
by Fraser Grace.
Theatre 503 Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road `SW11 3BW To 21 February.
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 5pm.
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 020 798 7040.
www.theatre503.com
then Mercury Theatre (Studio) Colchester 24 February-7 March 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat 5 March 2.15pm & 7 March 2.45pm.
TICKETS: 01206 573948.
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 31 January.
Strong unsentimental view of the individual and society.
This could have been a disaster; a play set in that dramatist’s graveyard, the future and apparently built around an ‘issue’, of parents versus the state in child-rearing - though it’s far more wide-ranging in its implications.
And Fraser Grace’s approach, the strength of his writing, avoiding self-consciousness and sentiment, plus a cast that, in Paul Robinson’s finely-pitched production, are alive to the script’s subtleties and nuances, make this an involving story which does well something at which theatre excels: presenting arguments enriched by conflict between and doubts within its characters.
The play’s structure helps. Each act begins with a speech by the Senator. His situation at the opening only becomes apparent at the end, but he speaks with formal authority. In act two, he’s shaving and unbuttoned as personal experience emerges, explaining his behaviour in the main action.
It’s clear where the play’s sympathies lie, but it avoids over-easy judgements. Cathy, whose maternal drive leads her to evade the edict that parents must surrender babies within 12 weeks of birth, is more deeply drawn, and a person of greater complexity than smart-suited Mark, born into the new dispensation. But Mark’s allowed to shows he’s more than an unthinking apparatchik.
There’s good work from Edward Hughes’ Mark, as from Laurence Mitchell playing Cathy’s farmer-husband with his own secret, plus a convincing performance from Rupert Simonian as the silent boy they foster, who provides the crucial moral weighting. But Cathy and the Senator are at the core of the play’s concerns.
They only meet once and the heart of their debate about children and humanity is expressed in light conversation comparing sheepdogs and robots. This lightness, which intensifies meaning through quiet and rapidity as well as by gravity marks out Robinson’s production. Keith Bartlett’s portrait of buttoned-up authority in conflict with human emotion and Gina Isaac’s performance, showing strain growing from Cathy’s continuing zest for life, make a compelling contrast.
And this world is no longer very unfamiliar; the destructive Lifesavers are only an extension of the protective war on terror that sucks liberties away. Watch out – and watch this play.
Senator: Keith Bartlett.
Robert: Laurence Mitchell.
Cathy: Gina Isaac.
Mark: Edward Hughes.
Jack: Rupert Simonian
Voice: Jacqueline King.
Director: Paul Robinson.
Designer/Costume: Helen Goddard.
Lighting: Emma Chapman.
Sound/Composer: Richard Hammarton.
Fight director: Philip D’Orleans.
Assistant director: Hanna Wolf.
2009-02-01 20:08:11