EXCERPT: "Variety is the spice of life and whilst the variable quality of writing and performances does inject a life and intrigue into the event, it was a shame the writers all dealt with the obvious themes and didn’t use the opportunity to go off into wilder and wackier tangents."
Dan Murphy’s Satisfaction, directed by Rachel Illingsworth, went first. In it, a young girl seduces an older married man - not for the first time - and begs him to hit her. Lucy Caplin’s slightly stronger performance is marred by pretty amateur acting from David Hemstead, whose actions are out of sync with the lines he’s been given. Most damagingly, there is no strong sense of his passion for her, so the credibility of the whole scenario is undermined.
Sam Freeman’s Rules follows on, indubitably showcasing some of the best crew and cast talent on offer that night. Prompting comparisons to Penhall’s Blue/Orange, the psychiatrist-patient relationship we see is uncomfortably compromised by dubious judgement calls on the part of the doctor. Harking back directly to Mangrove’s Mike and his ready exploitation of a young person’s vulnerability (compounding his charge’s insecurities for personal reasons), we see a ruthless doctor telling his mentally-damaged patient that his girlfriend won’t be able to love him after his accident. David Angus and Peter Clements are superb in their portrayal of the pair, eliciting laughs, sympathy and horror, one after another.
Relief, by James Fritz, depicts Stephanie de Whalley as a girl persuading a social worker (Madeline Gould) that she is competent to look after her baby again, despite abandoning him on the steps outside a hospital. De Whalley gives a strong performance, and is often compelling enough that Gould’s contribution can be largely ignored. It is still damaging, however, that Gould’s performance is so lackluster and unconvincing. She starts bored, ostentatiously checking her phone (although there is no understandable reason why this should be her reaction of choice), but without warning or preamble the discussion then shifts into a deeply personal issue for her. Director Alex Thorpe should have ensured that better continuity was created, but even with it, her limited ability to convincingly convey her emotions would have been problematic.
These three clips are then followed by the most awkwardly awful of the set: The Lie-In and the Unicorn, by Timothy Jones. It is hard to assess the quality of the writing when the acting - by Jodie Bloom and, most terribly, by Dixon Weinor - is so stilted and awkward. Weinor forgot half his lines and I’m pretty sure they both wanted to get off the stage as much as we did. Cack-handedly directed by Ben Cawley and Zephryn Taitte, I can only hope that the line forgetting threw them both and that the performance didn’t represent their talent truthfully.
Nathan Wood’s The Proper Boundaries depicts a volunteer in a social centre whose seniors prohibit him from constructing personal and meaningful relationships with the youngsters he’s trying to help. Tom Grace and Zoe Nicole work with one another nicely, although Sakuntala Ramanee as the superior social worker is stiff and unconvincing.
As part of Theatre 503’s new artistic vision, Paul Robinson will invite established playwrights to pen the final piece of the Rapid Write Response showcase. To kickstart the new scheme (Rapid Write Invite), Ben Ellis - writer of Theatre 503’s first ever RWR in 2007 - got writing. His piece is beyond doubt the most sophisticated and interesting piece of writing, engaging our brains as well as our attention. Caroline Faber gives a star performacne, ably supported by fellow actors Peter Bramhill, Stephanie Hyam and Claire Wyatt, and nicely directed by Jane Moriarty. I only wished it had lasted a little longer.
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