WHITE OPEN SPACES. To 27 August. Then tour.
Edinburgh
WHITE OPEN SPACES
by Francesca Beard, Richard Rai O'Neill, Rommi Smith, Ian Marchant, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Courttia Newland, Kara Miller
Pleasance Dome (King Dome) To 27 August 2006 to be revived for tour
Wed-Mon 5.15pm
Runs 1hr 15min No interval
TICKETS: 0131 556 6550
www.pleasance.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 August
Showing there's more than black and white when it comes to colour.
Pentabus Theatre tours Shropshire. Edging onto multicultural Birmingham (where, notoriously, Sikh protests caused the cancellation of a paly at the Repertory Theatre), rural Shrophire's population is almost totally White. As one of the White characters in these brief monologues says, the city is "their" territory, the countryside is "ours". Whatever form a countryside alliance may make, it's unlikely to be a rainbow coalition.
The urban/rural divide recurs in these pieces which resonate fruitfully with each other. Richard Rai O'Neill's middle-class clientele obviously approve of their accepted Black publican refusing to serve Travellers. Though O'Neill uses the old device of grafting all the shiftiness onto his unsympathetic regulars while making the group of Travellers behave with unfailingly polite restraint, he brings the situation skilfully round to a point where pub-manager Graham can no longer hide behind bland pleasantries and corporate policies, having to face up to a personal decision.
Francesca Beard makes a point visually, with her ethnic hitchhiker having walked out on her boyfriend at a country wedding, leaving her traipsing in flimsy evening clothes through the Sunday countryside. Melanie's an attractive character, her moments of verbal attack followed by self-deprecating laughter and a slight embarrassment at her appearance. Within this jolly chat, Beard exposes the assumptions underlying the type of questions put to her because of her skin-colour before bouncing them back on the (presumably White) driver.
These pieces go beyond anger to understanding. Of, for example, old Mountain, a potential BNP vote not because of active hostility but because the doubtless illegal immigrants he sees doing development work are associated with the unseen forces ripping apart his beloved landscape. And Sonali Bhattacharyya shows how an encounter with a potentially hostile landowner leads to an unexpected sympathy.
Only Ian Marchant's racist vicar seems unlikely, his views denounced by a church-cleaner played with gentle sympathy and restrained anger by Janice Connolly. All the cast make their characters' stories clear, while Endy McKay adds a light natural touch right for Melanie, Godfrey Jackman creates the nostalgic regret of an old countryman and Habib Nasib Nader the restrained impatience of someone reporting a missing person and finding himself under fire from 2 policemen because of his colour.
But it's Connolly who gets to deliver the fine parting shot. Her mother Janey speaks to her daughter's answerphone. Her difficulties with city ways and a new generation's manner surround an incident in a local supermarket where pride battles regret, before the strange non-communication implicit in today's technology leads to the realisation Janey's feelings will stay bottled up.
Theresa Heskins' discreet direction ensures sentimentality and one-dimensional character-types are kept at bay in a moving, humane piece which deserves wider exposure on its home territory.
Melanie: Endy McKay
Graham/Courage: Habib Nasib Nader
Mountain: Godfrey Jackman
Joy/Janey: Janice Connolly
Ashish: Saraj Chaudhry
Director: Theresa Heskins
Designer: Kate Bunce
Lighting: Simon Bond
2006-08-15 15:53:29