Worcestershire Wise - three new plays: till 28 October

Swan Playwrights – Worcestershire Wise
Worcester Past Ties: Sandra Booth
Look, No Hands: Sue Downing
Lost Content: Martin Drury

Review: Rod Dungate, 23 October, Rose Theatre, Kidderminster

Mothers and daughters: father and son
Swan Playwrights has a significant record now of mounting short tours of new plays by West Midlands writers; they continue their programme although the Swan Theatre in Worcester ceased to operate as a professional theatre some years ago.

Both women writers explore the relationships between mother and sibling.

Sandra Booth, in WORCESTER PAST TIES, has the daughter figure possibly running away from an abusive relationship. But the daughter, Zoe, seems to be a serial liar and has already run away from her mother (while in her teens.) But Zoe finds it impossible to make headway through the close relationship that exists between her mother, Christine, and Molly, her grandmother.

Two quite different mother/daughter relationships then; intriguing. Booth has some promising touches, like the scene in which Molly and Christine get dressed ready for church choir practice. The promise of the play is never quite fulfilled though – perhaps because Booth fails as yet to get really beneath the skin of these characters. The plethora of guns brought into play in the final sections is a mistake, tipping the play into melodrama.

In Sue Downing’s LOOK NO HANDS, the mother (ex circus performer, Tanya) wishes to protect her son from the uncertainties and dangers she faced as a child in the circus; she wishes, too, to give him the security she never had.

Downing handles her central character with skill, her duologue scenes are strong and Tanya (sympathetically played by Keeley Harker) holds our attention as she shares her story with us. The play loses focus though when the father also has blocks of direct address – it’s not his story. There is a tendency for characters to tell us how they feel rather too often.

Martin Drury handles a puzzling event with assurance in – LOST CONTENT. The young AE Housman disappeared for a short time early in his life; Drury explores this and Housman’s relationship with his friend Moses. But he places his investigation in the 21st century at a time when Housman’s home was undergoing alterations.

The opening couple of moments could do with tightening up and being given greater focus. But once into the real play, Drury reveals his story moment by moment; there is a robust narrative feeling within this strongly discursive play. Drury’s dialogue is heightened, setting challenges for the company. But the actors take it in their stride. Two fine performances as the young men from Rob Leetham (Alfred) and Daniel Hawthorne (Moses).

Worcester Past Ties
Molly: Lynn Ravenhill
Christine: Sue Downing
Zoe: Jennifer Taylor

Look, No Hands
Tanya: Keeley Harker
Janet/ Alison/ Young Woman: Louise Fulwell
Darren/ trev: Phil Rea

Lost Content
Alfred: Rob Leetham
Moses: Daniel Hawthorne
Edward: Stephen Downing

Director: Clare Smout
Sound: Kimberley Jones
Lights: Richard mayes
Costumes: Lynn Ravenhill

2006-10-27 20:16:45