THE ONES THAT FLUTTER To 10 October.
London.
THE ONES THAT FLUTTER
by Sylvia Reed.
Theatre 503 Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road SW11 3BW To 10 October 2009.
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 5pm.
Runs 1hr 5min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7978 7040.
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 September.
The Death Cell from an officer’s viewpoint.
When Roddy was a boy the ones that fluttered were doves shot not quite dead. Brother Ray could never bring himself to finish them off, but young Roddy explains he has no problem with it. It may seem contrived when looked at dispassionately, but appears logical while watching American dramatist Sylvia Reed’s play that Roddy grows up to be an executioner.
As with firing-squads, it seems the people who administer lethal injections in US prisons never know for certain they’ve killed a condemned man. Two people each operate controls for the three drugs used, a computer deciding whose is enacted. But, as condemned Black prisoner Hunter says, Roddy’s the one who gives them the signal, though he never presses a button.
Along with that responsibility, there’s the family home, which is wanted for a smart new real-estate development. The offer’s good, but Julie Ray can’t believe Roddy would literally sell out.
The acting in Abbey Wright’s production is perfectly pitched for each character’s part in Roddy’s life. As Rachel, Pandora Clifford is simply the efficient saleswoman who intrudes into Roddy’s life for commercial ends – his annoyance when she returns, walking in unannounced is given point by his accompanying disbelief she’d do so - while Lou Brealey’s young Julie Ray questions Roddy with dissatisfied intensity from the security of her own values.
The play moves, as if in Roddy’s mind, both back to his childhood and between home and the condemned cell, where Richie Campbell’s Hunter has a dignified calm in the face of certain execution. Yet he too disturbs Roddy’s attitude towards his own actions.
Oliver Coopersmith’s young Roddy provides an important contrast, in his childhood calm, with his adult self. But it’s Michael Feast in the central role who gives Wright’s production momentum and force as an examination of conscience. Anxiety and uncertainty invade the tired voice, there’s a new self-consciousness to the deliberate signal for execution near the end and an overall sense of tension. Feast also provides a contrast as Roddy’s dysfunctional father, a dangerous figure whose calculating unpredictability goes far to explain the adult Roddy’s state.
Roddy/Roddy’s Father: Michael Feast.
Hunter: Richie Campbell.
Rachel: Pandora Clifford.
Young Roddy: Oliver Coopersmith.
Julie Ray: Louise Brealey.
Director: Abbey Wright.
Designer/Costume: Helen Goddard.
Lighting: Emma Chapman.
Sound/Music: Simon Slater.
Dialect coach: Tim Charrington.
Fight coach: Al Gregg.
Assistant director: Rachel Heyburn.
2009-09-23 16:39:17