Tron Theatre, Glasgow
3 stars
A plane crash and a stray bullet changes everything in the lives of the
group of twenty-somethings in Chris Thorpe's 2009 play, originally seen
at the National Student drama Festival and revived here by director
Jane Hensey and an eight-strong ensemble of final year acting students
from RSAMD. Yet it takes a ghost to become the social glue that holds
this complex web of friends and lovers dealing with matters of everyday
life and near-death experiences as together as they'll ever be.
At first glance, Daniel Sawka's Dan appears to be just another prodigal
back-packer heading back to the town he fled with a set of anti-war
stories acquired while protesting against globalisation in exotic
climes. But as he strikes an almost too free-and-easy liaison with his
old friend Mel's flatmate Laura, it slowly becomes clear that the mess
he left behind will go on to define them, no matter how much Helen
Macfarlane's Tash pretends it won't.
The initial mundanity of Thorpe's snapshot-like play points up the
world-rocking extremes that upend us and grab us by surprise to remind
us we're alive. Or, in the case of one character who flits between
scenes like some peace-making angel, dead.
With actors slouched artfully against the walls of the Tron's Changing
House space when not in a scene, Hensey takes advantage of her cast's
youthful empathy with their characters, even as they're forced to grow
up too soon in a play that's about survival at both its most basic and
its most dramatic level. Life goes on, it says, and if there's a ghost
of a chance of anything else, grab it while you can.
The Herald, June 6th 2011
ends
3 stars
A plane crash and a stray bullet changes everything in the lives of the
group of twenty-somethings in Chris Thorpe's 2009 play, originally seen
at the National Student drama Festival and revived here by director
Jane Hensey and an eight-strong ensemble of final year acting students
from RSAMD. Yet it takes a ghost to become the social glue that holds
this complex web of friends and lovers dealing with matters of everyday
life and near-death experiences as together as they'll ever be.
At first glance, Daniel Sawka's Dan appears to be just another prodigal
back-packer heading back to the town he fled with a set of anti-war
stories acquired while protesting against globalisation in exotic
climes. But as he strikes an almost too free-and-easy liaison with his
old friend Mel's flatmate Laura, it slowly becomes clear that the mess
he left behind will go on to define them, no matter how much Helen
Macfarlane's Tash pretends it won't.
The initial mundanity of Thorpe's snapshot-like play points up the
world-rocking extremes that upend us and grab us by surprise to remind
us we're alive. Or, in the case of one character who flits between
scenes like some peace-making angel, dead.
With actors slouched artfully against the walls of the Tron's Changing
House space when not in a scene, Hensey takes advantage of her cast's
youthful empathy with their characters, even as they're forced to grow
up too soon in a play that's about survival at both its most basic and
its most dramatic level. Life goes on, it says, and if there's a ghost
of a chance of anything else, grab it while you can.
The Herald, June 6th 2011
ends
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