TOPLESS MUM. To 19 July.
London/Tour.
TOPLESS MUM
by Ron Hutchinson.
Tricycle Theatre 312 Kilburn High Road London NW6 2DG To 28 June
then tour to 19 july 2008.
Mon–Sat 8pm Mat Sa 4pm, 25 June 2pm.
Runs 2hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS 020 7328 1000.
www.ticketweb.co.uk
Review: Carole Woddis 3 June.
Bottomless pit of media corruption seriously uncovered.
Ron Hutchinson has been fighting the British establishment a long time now. Topless Mum, his latest, about press cynicism and manipulation is, however, quite reminiscent of an earlier play, Rat in the Skull (1984) in which he pitted the ideologies of a Protestant RUC officer and a Catholic terrorist suspect against each other. A fierce dialectical debate, it showed Hutchinson’s remarkable ability to get inside the head of both protagonists and the singular symbiosis of their relationship.
In Topless Mum - half war indictment, half detective story - Hutchinson gets right inside the head of both army establishment and `squaddie’ at the same time as looking askance at the workings and values of our tabloid press.
Interestingly, he is less successful delving inside the journalist’s head than the army’s. SteveThompson’s media satire Damages four years ago at the Bush Theatre was deadlier - and funnier; Topless Mum is altogether more serious. Despite an overly schematic and unconvincing plot, however, ultimately it packs a terrific, sobering punch.
Young journalist Annie (Emma Lowndes) is called to the home of a young, soldier, Barry (Alistair Wilkinson), recently returned from Afghanistan, horribly injured. He and his wife, Tiffany, have something to sell: pictures on his mobile of the apparent torture and abuse of an Afghani prisoner. Annie duly reports this to her (inevitably) hard-nosed Scottish editor, Kyle (Giles Fagan). The photo is printed, lawyers summoned, Barry’s army pal, Mitch (Jason Deer) cross-questioned.
Hutchinson then unpicks this scenario to show newspaper (the `topless mum’ incident is really a bit of an add-on), army lawyer Kennedy (a cool, sardonic Sylvestra le Touzel), Barry and Tiffany in a rubic-cube of changing sides and stories before an even darker tale emerges. If truth is the first casualty of war, Barry and his pals (memorably described by Kyle as `the scum of the earth’), Hutchinson suggests, are the embodiment of a British nation terminally scarred.
It’s clearly based on a true incident – the Daily Mirror-Piers Morgan fake photo episode. Caroline Hunt’s fine, controlled production gives Hutchinson’s words biting edge and ratcheting tension, leading up to its final, devastating climax.
Barry: Alistair Wilkinson.
Annie: Emma Lowndes,.
Tiffany: Louise Kempton.
Kyle: Giles Fagan.
Kennedy: Sylvestra Le Touzel.
Mitch: Jason Deer.
Director: Caroline Hunt.
Designer: Conor Murphy.
Sound Designer: John O’Hara.
Video Designer: Jack Phelan.
LX Designer: Mark Howland.
Singer: Katie Sobey.
Line Producer: Katie Keeler.
Tanuja Amarasuriya
Topless Mum was premiered at the Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol in 2007 and has since been reworked.
This new version is presented by Tobacco Factory Productions and Imagineer Productions in association with the Tricycle Theatre.
Tour:
1-5 July Belgrade Theatre Coventry 8pm Mat Sat 2.30pm 024 7655 3055 www.belgrade.co.uk
8-12 July Tobacco Factory Bristol 7.30pm 0117 902 0344.
15-19 July Oxford Playhouse Tue-Thu; Sat 7.30pm Fri 8pm Mat Sat 2.30pm 01865 305305 www.oxfordplayhouse.com
2008-06-04 01:06:44