(Rated 3/5 )
Billed as three
short plays by Robert Holman, these still felt long. Linked by war in that
different wars served as backdrops or backstories for the characters, they each
dealt with numerous issues around connection between people, families, trauma,
loss, truth and lies, secrets, youth and age and so much more. The dialogue
rang true and was full of subtext for the actors to work with… and the acting was
good mostly, but the production felt slow and stagnant. The Donmar stage is
small but I have seen much more movement and pace in other productions so it is
not the space that is a problem.
Matthew Tennyson and Jordan Dawes start with Being
Friends, the story of a young farmer and young artist meeting,
becoming friends and then maybe more. Matthew Tennyson impressed whilst Jordan
Dawes seemed to hold back feeling from his lines a little. It would have all
been in the subtext. I maybe had trouble feeling that due to the smoke from the
stage making its way up to the circle and starting my nose running. Then I
started to steam as both young men undressed to full frontal nudity. Ahem! That
was the most exciting part of that particular play.
I don’t think I had recovered from Being
Friends before Lost got underway. In fact it took me longer than
that – I must get out or stay in with my guy more ;). Lost really
suffered from lack of movement. Once, or maybe twice, the two characters
swapped their polar locations on the stage and sat when they’d been standing
before. There was such an undercurrent of potential emotional action though yet this
lack in motion was not enough to move me and my companion. Perhaps it was expected that the
undercurrents would but sadly they didn’t come through for us. May Appleton (played by Susan Brown), is being told that her son has been lost in war by officer
Geoffrey Church (John Hollingworth), as they both work through difficult issues
around family ties that bind or do not.
And finally, and perhaps most moving, Making
Noise Quietly brings together three highly traumatised disparate individuals;
a boy who won’t speak (Jack Boulter), a holocaust survivor now artist (Sara
Kestelman) and the war-induced PTSD-suffering ‘step-father’ (Ben Batt) of the
boy. Can they break through the noise of the unsaid, understand and help each
other?
The best parts though were the transitions
between scenes – the entire cast on stage showing us how their characters were
feeling and being in their lives - providing most activity on stage. Though
silent it was the noisiest part – making noise quietly!
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