THE WATER ENGINE. To 26 June.
THE WATER ENGINE
by David Mamet
Theatre 503 The Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road SW11 To 26 June 2005
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 5pm
Runs 1hr No interval
TICKETS: 020 7978 7040
020 7928 6363 (advance booking)
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 June
Small's very beautiful in riveting radio-Mamet revival.This is part of Direct Action', a season co-produced by Waterloo's Young Vic (currently under renovation) and Battersea's Theatre 503, giving young directors a chance to work on plays that redefine dramatic form.
For Tom Wright, this means David Mamet's 1977 radio play, set at a 1934 Chicago science expo, repeatedly announced as about to shut down in sepulchral tones which give doomed finality to end-of-day normality. Around pure science lie the sinister processes of corporate business and mythologies spawned by mass communication.
It's said a drama that seems all talk on stage is really a radio play. So this project might seem doomed from the start. Except it isn't. It's a triumph. Among the most exciting things to be seen currently in London, recreating the elusiveness of radio theatrically.
Robert Innes Hopkins' concentrated set helps. Its metal grille could be a room, cage or lift, creating a space imprisoning within its walls, confining outside them and allowing half-glimpsed figures presenting possible threats. Its sides are used to create industrial sounds, including the title engine, an innovation that works purely on water. Around is the clutter of communication telephones, microphones and, stuck on a board, multiple letters. Chain letters offering rewards for extending the chain and threatening death for breaking it are read out.
Inventor Lang's attempts to patent his design and the machinations of big business to prevent this drive the plot - there is a plot, though it's elliptical in the telling. In the cramped, sinister, danger zone the stage presents, even Lang's few moments with friends or his blind sister are edged with menace. This is caught in the terse dialogue, less hyperactive than later Mamet but still filled with unresolved threat in its jumps, not-quite-answers and several emergency-stop pauses.
It's beautifully played, by Paul Chequer's fevered inventor, Jody Watson as his blind sister and a subordinate 30s secretary and Paul Hunter as the ever-calm patent expert. Plus a couple of doublings, Gabriel-Bisset Smith as eager young science-minded Barnie and a left-wing orator, with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith finely contrasting Barnie's friendly father and a burly, forcefully threatening lawyer.
Lang: Paul Chequer
Rita: Jody Watson
Gross: Paul Hunter
Oberman: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Barnie: Gabriel Bisset-Smith
Director: Tom Wright
Designer: Robert Innes-Hopkins
Lighting: David Holmes
Sound: Carolyn Downing
Assistant director: Sophie Austin
Assistant designer: Stuart Hembrow
2005-06-21 01:43:56