THREE MORE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS To 27 August.

London.

THREE MORE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
by Caryl Churchill.

Lyttelton Theatre Upper Ground South Bank SE1 9PX In rep to 27 August 2009.
6pm 10, 12, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, Aug.
8pm 24 Aug.
Runs: 50 min No interval..

TICKETS 020 7452 3000.
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/tickets
Review: Carole Woddis 31 July.

Curious early evening revival for a major playwright.
Here’s an odd thing, a Caryl Churchill play in three parts – warring partners in bed, a kind of miniature La Ronde. First we see Margaret and Frank (Lindsey Coulson and Ian Hart). She’s fed up with him coming home drunk every night and accuses him of seeing another woman. He defends himself by saying she doesn’t love him. They swing between aggression, blame and victimhood.

Switch to another bedroom; another couple Pete and Dawn (Paul Ready and Hattie Morahan). Here there’s silence. From time to time Dawn emits strange, strangulated sounds. Pete wears an expression that says he’s seen this so many times before he’s lost the words to cope with it. Now awake, he launches into descriptions of the movie Alien.

Dawn’s anxiety grows more pronounced by the minute. “I feel unreal,” she says, then, “I’m frightened”. Pete thinks some food might help. When he returns, Dawn is wearing a green dress and announces she is going out. It’s 3am in the morning. Pete fails to keep Dawn’s existential pain in check. The final scene shows Pete in bed with Margaret.

“I’ve changed,” says Margaret with a brave face. “So have I,” says Pete. “I couldn’t talk to Dawn.” In the space of another 10 minutes, however, we see exactly the same pattern emerging: Margaret starting to blame Pete, Pete sinkiing into silence.

Were these three new plays one might say, well, what a surprise, Churchill in domestic mode returning to a kind of structured realism.

As it is, who knows exactly why the National have revived it; maybe to tempt people to come and stay for the companies performing outside after darki? As a companion-piece to Phedre? Or maybe to celebrate Churchill herself? (A full retrospective of her work would be even nicer.)

Whatever, it was all there nearly 30 years ago, the experimentation - overlapping dialogue, silence – and thematic exploration of such things as male emotional dyslexia and female identity crises.

Needless to say, it’s beautifully acted, by this present quartet, Ready and Morahan particularly. Morahan makes you shiver with the swirling inner pain, barely contained, palpable.

Margaret: Lindsey Coulson.
Frank: Ian Hart.
Pete: Paul Ready.
Dawn: Hattie Morahan.

Director: Gareth Machin.
Designer: Naomi Dawson.
Lighting: Laurie Clayton.
Sound: Mike Winship.
Company voice work: Kate Godfrey.

2009-08-04 00:05:28