Theatre Royal, Glasgow
4 stars
When David Harrower’s quietly unsettling lovers’ reunion first appeared at Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, its ambiguous emotional landscape was almost up-ended by a spectacularly pointless and uber-expensive last-minute scene change. Three years on, and the scene change has gone in David Grindlay’s new touring production, and the play’s difficult subject matter has become a vehicle for TV friendly names. In a story about a young woman who confronts the man she had an affair with aged twelve some fifteen years earlier, this is something of a double-edged sword, causing at least one walk-out from audience members who may just have wanted to see Lexie off Monarch Of The Glen.
As it is, Dawn Steele’s Una, who confronts Robert Daws’ Ray in the anonymous industrial estate he’s built his new life in, is a serious enough proposition to hold even the most ardent of Monday night sweet-wrapper rustler’s attention. This despite Steele’s Una being initially feistier than you might imagine. Gradually, though, as the pair wade through the mess of unfinished business in the works’ rest room, it’s easy to see the scared little girl left alone in the dark Una partly still is.
There are still moments that shock, like the way Ray carefully wipes the teat of Una’s water bottle before drinking from it, implying a fear of being touched by her. There are gasps too when someone from Ray’s new life briefly appears, even if it’s not quite as pointed as it should be. Where Una’s toughness masks her pain, Ray’s sad sack of a man is briefly reawakened before something resembling closure ensues in this understated but still devastating work.
The Herald, June 11th 2008
ends
4 stars
When David Harrower’s quietly unsettling lovers’ reunion first appeared at Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, its ambiguous emotional landscape was almost up-ended by a spectacularly pointless and uber-expensive last-minute scene change. Three years on, and the scene change has gone in David Grindlay’s new touring production, and the play’s difficult subject matter has become a vehicle for TV friendly names. In a story about a young woman who confronts the man she had an affair with aged twelve some fifteen years earlier, this is something of a double-edged sword, causing at least one walk-out from audience members who may just have wanted to see Lexie off Monarch Of The Glen.
As it is, Dawn Steele’s Una, who confronts Robert Daws’ Ray in the anonymous industrial estate he’s built his new life in, is a serious enough proposition to hold even the most ardent of Monday night sweet-wrapper rustler’s attention. This despite Steele’s Una being initially feistier than you might imagine. Gradually, though, as the pair wade through the mess of unfinished business in the works’ rest room, it’s easy to see the scared little girl left alone in the dark Una partly still is.
There are still moments that shock, like the way Ray carefully wipes the teat of Una’s water bottle before drinking from it, implying a fear of being touched by her. There are gasps too when someone from Ray’s new life briefly appears, even if it’s not quite as pointed as it should be. Where Una’s toughness masks her pain, Ray’s sad sack of a man is briefly reawakened before something resembling closure ensues in this understated but still devastating work.
The Herald, June 11th 2008
ends
Comments