WHERE DO WE LIVE. To 8 June.

London

WHERE DO WE LIVE
by Christopher Shinn

Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs To 8 June 2002
Mon-Sat 7.45 Mat Sat 4pm (no perfs 3.4 June)
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS 020 7565 5000
Review Timothy Ramsden 31 May

Smart, if suspiciously well-ordered, picture of modern urban alienations.Notice the defiant lack of the question mark Shinn's title suggests. And there's a defiant questioning to his style. The central oasis of Julian McGowan's stage fragments from the Prologue and Epilogue's easy-chat setting in Patricia's bar into two apartments, across the corridor from each other. Their owners are a world apart: one's white, gay and writes books; the other's black, does drugs and plays homophobic rap on his audio.

It's a world of loneliness among many, as the naively painted skyscrapers wrapping around the audience remind us. And Shinn stays this side of sentimentality through – or, maybe despite of – his upfront aggro in the drug-dealer's and frankly staged sex scenes over the way. Low-level dealer Shedrick's contempt for his father Timothy is offset by the casual affection and sexual arousal offered the older man by Shed's English girl of the moment, Lily.

It's a strange affection, contrasting the split-up of Stephen and Tyler, who grows tired of his partner's moral worryings and lets a freer approach to life carry him off. Nuclear groupings split atomically; unlikely alliances form. Under the severe glitz of its honed dialogue and Richard Wilson'e precise, economic production – given the Royal Court's usual high intensity, cool-surfaced acting – the only concern is that things are too precisely delineated, laid out in over neat patterns. Human lives aren't as neat as that – neat, here, even in the mess they make.

It's in the softening of Shed near the end this is most apparent. Noel Clarke is near unrecognisable as an accommodating young man, compared with the early scenes' rough-head. But the anonymous cluster that's the big city has itself been shaken. Monitors keep the date before us, as we move from August to October 2001, passing the calamitous 11 September. If this play sticks in the repertoire, there may be a footnote needed some day; for now, the calendar provides an unheard rumble whose shockwaves give a further blow to the non-steady states of these people's lives.

Dave/Howard/Young White Guy/Young White Man: Nicholas Aaron
Shedrick: Noel Clarke
Billy/Ron/Art Student: Toby Dantzic
Stephen: Daniel Evans
Tyler: Adam Garcia
Timothy: Cyril Nri
Leo/Violinist: Ray Panthaki
Lily: Jemima Rooper
Patricia: Susannah Wise

Director: Richard Wilson
Designer: Julian McGowan
Lighting: Johanna Town
Sound: Paul Arditti
Composer: Olly Fox
Dialect coach: Joan Washington
Company Voice Work: Patsy Rodenburg

2002-06-13 23:17:58