Where the Shot Rabbits Lay ***

Royal Court Theatre, London
***

"Whilst I like Birch’s writing a lot, and feel it has huge potential, this play felt like it should be consigned to the part of the CV that, along with this Royal Court stamp of approval, enables him to have more success later on with the bigger and better plays that he will indubitably go on to write."

Having never been to a play reading before, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I forked out £8 for Brad Birch’s Where the Shot Rabbits Lay at the Royal Court. Despite the fact the two actors grasped scripts and referred to the intricacies of putting up a tent as if they were doing so (whilst actually sat on their bottoms chugging beer – bizarre), I was surprised at how little impact it made on my enjoyment of the performance. Birch’s script is all about depicting relationships, either through what is and is not said – rather than such paltry matters as action or spectacle – and as such it was well suited to the unfinished medium.

With the assistance of good direction from Nick Bagnell, Where the Shot Rabbits Lay compellingly focuses on the difficulties an absentee father (Nicolas Tennant) finds connecting with his adolescent son (Lewis Lempereur-Palmer). Tennant gave a strong performance, conveying his pent up frustration, as well as the cracks in his facade of model parenthood, with credibly uncontrolled outbursts of emotion. The exposure of his vulnerabilities lent the character an endearing quality that, like his son, I increasingly sympathised with; nonetheless, the father figure retained an underlying unappealing quality that shows of weakness often elicit, especially when placed in contrast to superior strength of character. As a sullen teenager son – the easier part to play – Lempereur-Palmer’s performance was, as much as it can be at such an early stage in the production’s development, pretty faultless. Quietly hunched over himself, despite barely saying anything of any note, he commanded my attention with an easy poise that makes his father’s desperation for his son’s approval and respect very believable.

A short play, Where the Shot Rabbits Lay felt constrained as to how much further it could go. Whilst I like Birch’s writing a lot, and feel it has huge potential, this play felt like it should be consigned to the part of the CV that, along with this Royal Court stamp of approval, enables him to have more success later on with the bigger and better plays that he will indubitably go on to write.