| Quirkiness, excitement and enthusiasm |
At Dirty Protest |
| Dirty Protest- The Bells of Shoreditch , Sherman Cymru, Cardiff , January 16, 2009 |
"When I grow Rich" say the Bells of Shoreditch”. There’s little chance of that happening to any of the lonely, struggling characters in this first ‘full’ production from Dirty Protest. As well as being one of the movers behind this new and exciting company playwright Tim Price has a successful ’day-job’ writing the script for the very successful S4C series Y Pris. He brings that same quirky way he looks at human behaviour there to this production. Quirkiness, excitement and enthusiasm are what drive this young company. Their first outing was in a Yurt in City Road, where several writers submitted short plays with actors and directors presenting them to packed audiences, from there they set up camp in a number of venues in the city and whilst appropriately they are now ensconced at Sherman Cymru, Wales’ designated new Writing Theatre, they seem content to remain strolling players. The studio at the Sherman has always been a remarkable, successful space. Here we feel we are right in the living room of Paul’s flat. He’s a nice guy. Mark Arens equips him with a charm and a lack of guile that gives us an inkling that all is not well with him. He is a lost soul, alone and finding it difficult to make firm contacts with other people. Later we learn that he has thrown the contents of all his pockets over London Bridge then followed them with his shoes. Turning up at his office in bare feet, his boss sent him home and he has remained there ever since. So he has been putting adverts in the newspaper for a bed mate. Someone to sleep with him, not for sex, well not necessarily for sex but more to help him through the night. His first ‘client’ is Holly, an affectionate but nervous young lady given a delightful touch of warmth by Chrisian Emmanuel. Like Paul she’s lost and nervous too and in this opening scene they fail to get it together despite the fondness they are able to register between them. However it is Holly, along with the pregnancy of Paul’s brother’s wife that ends the play on a possible note of hope. Next in is Alex, it appears she’s some kind of Lap Dancer and sees Paul as an outlet for her genuine sexuality. Eiry Hughes creates a believable sensuality but at the same time we see that it’s unlikely that she will ever find it happily fulfilled. It would seem that Paul has been receiving many potential bedfellows of both sexes. This has raised some complaints and concern from the other residents in the block. This allows us the opportunity to relish the short and strong performance from the wonderful Maria Pride as Chairperson of the Residents Association; her moments of high minded self-possession soon give way and we see that she is yet another in this world of lost people. Her remonstrations come to little effect, she goes and leaves the field open for Clive, a sensitive performance from Lee Mengo but he doesn’t stay long. We see now, well perhaps we don’t see but it could be that Paul’s mind is well and truly shattered. He has plotted his way out and his brother, Gareth Milton, who reminds us that there are some sane people left in the world, quickly gives up trying to dissuade him from his scheme. And so off he goes. Whatever will happen to him? This was a work-in-progress, script-held (not that that was any distraction) and with a minimal rehearsal period. Quite rightly Vicky Jones used a light touch with her directing. The episodic nature of the play needs refining. The actors were able to reveal the characters to us but there was much more depth to be explored in all of them. For all its short comings a very pleasant evening of theatre. Let’s hope the protests go on getting dirtier and dirtier! |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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