THE MORTAL ASH. To 28 October.

Oldham

THE MORTAL ASH
by Richard Cameron

Coliseum Theatre To 28 October 2006
Tue-Thu; Sat7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat 21, 25, 28 Oct 2.30pm
Audio-described 25 Oct
BSL Signed 19 Oct
Runs 2hr One interval

TICKETS: 0161 624 2829
www.coliseum.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 October

Slow-burning plot fuse makes for a warm drama.
In an age of theatrical dash, Richard Cameron’s play is remarkably patient. It’s set in the garden of a household where internal pressures are increased by a semi-siege situation. The reason for this slowly leaks out, and is related to the former hanging-tree of the title. But it’s expressed from the start in Michael Holt’s confined garden set, with its high surrounds and hate-graffiti in the distance.

Tensions exist between mother and daughter-in-law, but the fault-lines mostly trace their way back to husband and father Tom. Cameron keeps his appearance almost till the interval, by when there’s plenty for his big second-act scene to work through. Guilt and responsibility find a setting as specific to this northern urban scene as they were to Ibsen’s Ghosts.

It’s in this post-interval working-out that Robin Herford’s production ceases for a time to be exemplary and falls to the merely good. Paul McCleary’s always good at expressing tension and conscience: the strained face, the reasoning cadences. But his Tom seems someone who’s never stopped agonising about the matter, while the play so far has suggested an old wound that’s just rubbing sore again.

But Herford and his cast catch the sense of enclosure, expressing perfectly the script’s sense of how what needs to be said is partly expressed through what doesn’t get said by family members in a shared, troubled situation. Characters don’t talk about the big issue, but about immediate details, such as the birthday of mentally-limited teenage son Duane, or the private defeat of job insecurity.

And each, at Oldham, seems utterly lived-in, matching the background which remains so long unspoken or hinted-at, making this backstory seem entirely credible. And significant, because when all comes out, the by-now familiar characters are seen in a clearer context. There’s no weak link. Sue Wallace makes mother Cath’s anxieties a cause of annoyance against others, before showing her underlying good-heartedness.

Patrick Connolly catches the new generation’s mixed worry and hope, while Eve Robertson’s sister Rainy admirably shows this young woman’s shrewdness, resilience and peace-making propensities. A strong revival of an individual, oblique yet realistic play.

Chris Wheatley: Patrick Connolly
Linda Clay: Emma Kearney
Tom Wheatley: Paul McCleary
Rainy Wheatley: Eve Robertson
Duane Wheatley: Daniel Wallace
Cath Wheatley: Sue Wallace

Director: Robin Herford
Designer: Michael Holt
Lighting: Phil Davies
Sound: Charlie Brown

2006-10-21 11:16:34