| Too little too soon? |
At Sgript Cymru |
| Sgript Cymru- Orange , Chapter Arts Centre Carddff , September 10, 2006 |
A new expensive looking glossy brochure picked up in the foyer of the theatre proclaims the successes of the company during the six years of its existence and it lists many of the best known Welsh playwrights and directors that have passed through the company’s door in that time. Artistic Director Simon Harris concludes with the somewhat axiomatic sentence, “Sgript Cymru’s existence has created something very palpable indeed – an overwhelming argument for the vision of the Playwright to be placed at the centre of theatre’s future in Wales.”There have been many successes and it has been my privilege to join in the celebration of many of them but sadly as Sgript Cymru contemplates the next stage in its existence as part of the newly reformed Sherman Theatre this brave enterprise does not reflect the best of the company’s output. This is more a work in progress rather than a finished production. The premise of the play is a fascinating one. We have been seeing regularly on our TV screens Western Hostages taken by Islamic militants with some ending very tragically. In his first play Cardiff journalist, Alan Harris has reversed the situation and we have a Muslim Cardiff based resident kidnapped by two ‘dock land hoodies’. They propose to hold him until a female Western hostage held in the Middle East is released. They also insist that they will dole out the same tragic end to their captor if the Western hostage suffers a similar fate. They make a video message of all this but then seem to be without the resources to know what to do with the tape. His ear is not sufficiently tuned to the language of the Grangetown streets. This is a difficult task because, as he recognises much of that language consists of monosyllabic grunts, hardly the best material for dramatic dialogue. This seriously undermines the verisimilitude of his two (light) heavyweights particularly as within his own attempt to find a street cred language he is inconsistent, allowing his protagonist to become curiously literate on one or two occasions. Despite a very convincing set of a squalid downtown squat from Sophie Charalambous, the two actors fail to convince us that they are genuine Kaadiff hard men. Admittedly they have little resources at their disposal. In his first profession engagement Lee Bane gives the role of Chippie, the gang leader and chief sadist, his best shot but he fails to imbue his character with the menace and insensitivity that the play demands. Geraint Hardy, also an emerging actor, has the more complex part and though he may be a little more believable than his brother, he cannot convince us that his behaviour is genuine. We see from the climax of the drama that both boys must be somewhat demented. We are in an awful and terrifying situation, The more experienced Mark Anwar as the captured Saleem would have done a convincing job had he had something stronger to play off against, but director Tessa Walker has failed to convince us that any real atmosphere of awe and terror inhabits her stage. The play has been aired too soon. Alan Harris has the basis for a very good and compelling play but more work needed to be done to bring to this story the polish we normally expect from this dynamic company. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
This review has been read 2772 times There are 70 other reviews of productions with this title in our database:
|
