THE WATCHER. To 29 August.
Edinburgh
THE WATCHER
by Jeremy Paul
Pleasance Upstairs To 29 August 2005
Mon-Sun 12.55pm
Runs 1hr 15min No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden
This Watcher's's well worth taking a look at.This play's an ornament, if not a jewel, of the Fringe. Well acted and directed it holds the attention so you don't notice the time passing. Or it did for me. Some will find it's onion-peeling, scenario-revising plot unconvincingly contrived. But for those who like their suspense upfront and criminal, this is a going concern.
Not perfectly so. There are moments which considered separately begin to seem (or are screamingly) unlikely. Still, the tension between Katie McEwen's youngish woman sunning herself (in a Manchester park, which might be thought least likely of all) and Jon Martin-Shaw's nerdy young man who imposes his presence, Sainsbury carrier and all, on the territory of her rug, is sustained and renewed as layers of apparent reality peel away.
At its most successful The Watcher plays on modern society's suppressed paranoia at being observed, which is both a form of safety and a threat to personal independence. Every CCTV camera in public hands is justified on the basis of crime-prevention, and that's what underlies the story here: a young woman's been murdered recently in this park.
But reaching the truth behind a camera image can be tricky. Truth and lies mix in stories explaining what's seen and writer Jeremy Paul plays on an audience's desire to know, for certain, what's been happening and the motives behind human behaviour.
Neither character here knows everything about the situation in which they are playing a part - or a series of parts. Both have instructions but have to improvise within the scenarios laid out for them. Neither can be certain of the other's role throughout.
Actors have the advantage of knowing all the guises beneath the disguises from the start, but Katie McEwen and Jon Martin-Shaw play their characters' surfaces and underlying awareness or puzzlement with conviction. The Watcher doesn't explore every area of the theme it sets up, but it follows its own tracks at a pace allowing situations to develop without becoming stale. A good one to watch.
Sonia: Katie McEwen
Kevin: Jon Martin-Shaw
Director: Roger Martin
2005-09-01 14:38:08