views from the gods

saints and sinners of the stage and screen

Freefall
The New Wimbledon Studio Theatre
10th July 2013

★★★☆☆

Robin Morrisey snd Kieran Knowles as Robbie and Steven

Photography supplied by Three Streets Productions

Grief is deeply powerful, often all-consuming and always unpredictable. In Freefall, a double bill of one-act plays, Three Streets Productions present the impact of traumatic memories and the very human reluctance to confront these head-on.

The first piece, written by Becky Prestwich, is the stronger of the two. The Bear, The Owl and The Angel is named after the in-narrative's poignant fairytale about an angel who disappears one winter's day. After many years away, the storyteller, social entrepreneur and dad-of-two Steven (Kieran Knowles) finally returns to the family home to see his kid brother Robbie (Robin Morrisey) and talk about the childhood secret that has haunted both of them their whole lives long.

The uneasy relationship between the two men is the strongest aspect of this play. Robbie flits between anger and nonchalance, but there is a whole complex raft of negative emotions beneath the surface, which we see come out as Steven tries with varying success to try and coax out a brotherly rapport. There is still clearly some connection between the two siblings, but their relationship is hanging by thread. The more that is revealed, the sadder this becomes.

The contrast between Robbie's hard man macho Northern persona and his inability to put into words what he really wants to discuss gives an intensity to the piece. It's puzzling why we don't sympathise with the two men more, but with a running time of just under an hour, perhaps we just don't spend enough time with them - as in the latter, Alice Malin's direction is sharp and action is certainly solid enough.

With the second short, Lacuna, we have a similar problem. It's another two-hander, this time set in a hospital. Kate (Joanne Ferguson) is unable to remember what has happened to her and why she is there. Sorrow has attacked her faculties in such a way that the young woman is protecting herself by looking straight past a figure in her personal history.

Despite her condition, Kate is largely lucid, assured and playful. She is well enough to recognise the one-way mirror and question the recordings made by her doctor, David (Alastair Kirton). He is meant to be helping her, but feels far more in need of comfort himself, constantly anxious and struggling to find the right words when talking to Kate.

Alastair Kirton and Joanne Ferguson as David and Kate

Photography supplied by Three Streets Productions

Writer Matthew Bulgo does round out Kate and David's characters, establishing their personalities, but again, we don't connect to them as much as we want to. It's no criticism of the actors, who deliver their lines with emotion, but the pacing does seem a little uneven. Although only 45 minutes long, the script feels flabby in places.

When two plays run consecutively for one production, the temptation is to use one simple backdrop, which makes sense for either piece. Rather ambitiously, Malin and designer Adrian Gee have opted to go all-out with the look.

Initially, walls are put up for The Bear, The Owl and The Angel. There is a bed stripped bare, drawers pulled out and emptied, and thin black bin bags full of clothes unceremoniously dumped on the floor. They have gone to great lengths to create a home and then unravel it, the result being a rather bleak set which matches the feel of the story perfectly.

There's a great attention to detail - from the discarded local newspapers to the hooks on either side of the window, indicating that the curtains have already been taken down and thrown out. Although some of the furniture is relatively modern, the thick beige carpet, net curtains and shabby pouffe hint at the real age of the room and how long someone has spent there.

This is all completely removed for Lacuna - the walls are gone, with a black backdrop in their place. A sheet of thin lino covers the floor, and the only furniture is a small white circular table, two chairs and a one-way mirror suspended from the ceiling. Whilst there was a hint that there used to be life in the first set, here it's deliberately cold and clinical.

Both productions show a very different side to traumatic memories, and the thematic link is an interesting one. However the scripts for both feel like responses to a writing challenge, rather than concepts that stand tall on their own with an intention to put the audience through as much of an emotional wringer as their characters. There is potential here, but more work is required to really polish the writing and establish a greater rapport with the audience.

Freefall ran from 10th to 13th July 2013 at the New Wimbledon Studio Theatre.

Nearest tube station: Wimbledon (District)



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