Finborough Theatre, London
EXCERPT: "
Carthage feels very true to life: playwright Chris Thompson spent 12 years in the field and this really shines through. It feels like a fair portrayal of the issues within the system - it is critical, but seems objectively so."
Carthage feels very true to life: playwright Chris Thompson spent 12 years in the field and this really shines through. It feels like a fair portrayal of the issues within the system - it is critical, but seems objectively so."
Tommy Anderson was born in a prison, and he died in one
too. The last moments of his life are recorded on CCTV, and yet no one can
answer the simple question: whose fault was it? His mother
Anne blames Marcus, the guard who was supposed to be looking after him.
Marcus, acquitted by the courts but tormented by his part in Tommy's death,
wants the family’s social worker to admit to the role she played. And social
worker Sue can’t work out when it was she stopped caring. Piecing together a
boy’s life and death in care, Carthage asks
who should raise our children when the systems designed to protect them can be
as abusive as the situations from which they were rescued.
Cast &
Creatives:
Written by Chris Thompson
Directed by Robert Hastie
Designed by James Perkins
Karin – Elaine Claxton
Anne – Claire-Louise Cordwell
Simon/Lou – Oliver Jackson
Tom – Jack McMullen
Sue – Lisa Palfrey
Marcus – Toby Wharton
Alex – Chinna Wodu
Thoughts:
Carthage feels very true to life: playwright Chris Thompson spent 12 years in the field and this really shines through. It feels like a fair portrayal of the issues within the system - it is critical, but seems objectively so. I didn't feel it was too driven by a personal agenda - it seeks to raise questions and expose issues, whilst recognising the difficulties inherent with finding a solution to them.
The play is beautifully (albeit simply) structured: the information is revealed to us bit by bit, engaging us by slowly building up a picture of events and relationships. It doesn't feel the need to neatly tie everything up at the end either, which I like. It could have very easily felt like a long depressing / angry rant, but Thompson incorporates enough light moments of comedy, affection and humanity to balance the heavier moments and general thrust of the play out.
Each character is flawed, but emotionally engaging, likeable, and very human. I sympathised with each, mainly because each did really care about Tom, even if they did let him down. The acting is really superb, especially from Claire-Louise Cordwell who plays Tom's mum. She showed all the requisite attitude and anger for someone who was clearly very mucked up, but as the piece didn't delve too much into her personal issues she accordingly made us focus in on her relationship with her son which - albeit abnormal - was still very much based on a foundation of sincere affection. I think something Thompson could have developed further was how difficult it would be for the mum to do her job well with the social services breathing down her neck. Lisa Palfrey also gives a wonderfully matter of fact and humorous portrayal of social worker Sue. However, her kind portrayal of the character did underplay her responsibility for Tom's death to an extent that I'm not sure Thompson had envisaged. I also felt that Toby Wharton, who played the guard Marcus, could have done with being a bit more thuggish and a bit scarier: I'm not sure the violence of the prison scenes or his world weariness was impressed upon us quite forcefully enough.
Overall, I felt that the cast and creative team were so wary of having too strong an agenda that at points they sacrificed realism for niceties, when actually the strongest message for me was the humanity and likeability of a very self-evidently delinquent mother. As such, I feel like the production might have come across as a tad naive because so kind to all the people responsible. At the same time, it's all too easy to assume the worst of people who on paper do things which - on paper - seem pretty reprehensible, so lending them humanity and depth is all to the good.
Carthage feels very true to life: playwright Chris Thompson spent 12 years in the field and this really shines through. It feels like a fair portrayal of the issues within the system - it is critical, but seems objectively so. I didn't feel it was too driven by a personal agenda - it seeks to raise questions and expose issues, whilst recognising the difficulties inherent with finding a solution to them.
The play is beautifully (albeit simply) structured: the information is revealed to us bit by bit, engaging us by slowly building up a picture of events and relationships. It doesn't feel the need to neatly tie everything up at the end either, which I like. It could have very easily felt like a long depressing / angry rant, but Thompson incorporates enough light moments of comedy, affection and humanity to balance the heavier moments and general thrust of the play out.
Each character is flawed, but emotionally engaging, likeable, and very human. I sympathised with each, mainly because each did really care about Tom, even if they did let him down. The acting is really superb, especially from Claire-Louise Cordwell who plays Tom's mum. She showed all the requisite attitude and anger for someone who was clearly very mucked up, but as the piece didn't delve too much into her personal issues she accordingly made us focus in on her relationship with her son which - albeit abnormal - was still very much based on a foundation of sincere affection. I think something Thompson could have developed further was how difficult it would be for the mum to do her job well with the social services breathing down her neck. Lisa Palfrey also gives a wonderfully matter of fact and humorous portrayal of social worker Sue. However, her kind portrayal of the character did underplay her responsibility for Tom's death to an extent that I'm not sure Thompson had envisaged. I also felt that Toby Wharton, who played the guard Marcus, could have done with being a bit more thuggish and a bit scarier: I'm not sure the violence of the prison scenes or his world weariness was impressed upon us quite forcefully enough.
Overall, I felt that the cast and creative team were so wary of having too strong an agenda that at points they sacrificed realism for niceties, when actually the strongest message for me was the humanity and likeability of a very self-evidently delinquent mother. As such, I feel like the production might have come across as a tad naive because so kind to all the people responsible. At the same time, it's all too easy to assume the worst of people who on paper do things which - on paper - seem pretty reprehensible, so lending them humanity and depth is all to the good.
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