THE UNTHINKABLE. To 13 November.
Sheffield
THE UNTHINKABLE
by Steve Waters
Crucible Studio To 13 November 2004
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Mat 4,11 Nov 2pm 6,13 Nov 3pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 0114 249 6000
sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/buyit
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 October
Political drama in a bold production.There's not a seat to be had at Sheffield Theatres. Not on stage, anyway. Like the main-house Don Carlos, Joisie Rourke's production of Steve Waters new play about bright youngish things in a leftish-leaning think-tank has a bare stage that leaves all its characters standing. Unless they perch on one of the steps leading to the central platform where the action takes place, surrounded by the audience.
There's privacy to these goings-on, but the forum-like platform usefully reminds of the public statements and policies which eventually emerge from political processes where a comfortable living's to be had for the bright and motivated. Ending, for the brightest and smoothest, with a seat in the Commons.
It's mainly set today, though with trips back across 15 years, showing the processes of corruption and compromise. Levels of leftism vary, while there are repeated reminders of the outside world, from which these thinkers are protectively sealed-off. Apart from one theatrical moment when reality seems about to bring the house down.
Waters has a sense of the way personal and political agendas mix and of how an idealistic group can be slowly wrenched apart by temperament and life. But for all the zeitgeist-lingo, neither the local Derbyshire setting nor the examination of issues rings with conviction. What's missing is the investigative depth and sheer fascinating information that David Edgar, say, would bring to the subject.
Here, we find out enough, about issues and characters, to feel we're up with the quality-paper feature articles. But never that we've been taken beyond them, into the heart of a think-tank world. The detail of political context is missing and that detracts from both conviction and plot excitement. We're presented with scenarios and situations, characters and dialogue which we can recognise and believe, but not ones that give a sense of new discovery.
Even a set of skilled performances can't fill-in the background or highlight the foreground. Rourke provides a pacy production and on TV the play would possibly be hailed as stirring political drama. But it's not up there with the most exploratory political theatre.
Maggie Howson: Susannah Wise
Mark Rehman: Aaron Neil
Oliver Sope0r: Jo Stone-Fewings
Jay Lawrence: Justin Salinger
Fran Levy: Katherine Parkinson
Patrick Fox: Nigel Cooke
Alice: Charlotte Johnson
Director: Josie Rourke
Designer: Lucy Osborne
Lighting: Colin Grenfell
Dialect coach: William Conacher
Movement: Dominic Leclerc
2004-11-04 01:23:06