At Louche Theatre |
| Louche Theatre- The Remnants of Once Fine Girls , Aberystwyth Arts Centre , May 21, 2009 |
The World Premiere of Steven Todd’s ‘The Remnants of Once Fine Girls’, gives Harry Durnall_s company an opportunity to place it’s own stamp on an unknown and unsullied piece of theatre. Set firmly in the present day and unseen in public beyond a ‘rehearsed reading’ project last year, Remnants is a story of family ties, emotion, psyche, duty and relationship, set against the background of the Darfur conflict.The play is set in London, but with a twist. Throughout the performance, a chorus of black clad women (Denise Williams, Jojo Engelkamp and Danielle Marsden) will step in. They occupy a ‘sorting room’ at the rear of the staging. Therein, are piles of clothes, each item with it’s own provenance, it’s own story to tell, and these are related by the chorus at vital junctures throughout. Following an introduction from the chorus, describing the story behind some of the clothes, we move to a London cemetery. There, Hannah (Sarah Mair Gates) arrives to visit her mother’s grave and meets Martha (Barbara Hogger) a friend of the family, also paying her respects. Talk turns to Sarah, Hannah’s twin sister, a midwife working with Medecines Sans Frontiere in Darfur. They briefly discuss memories, family and matters that arise from both, then Hannah leaves to go home, pushing her daughter’s buggy. A few minutes later, Hannah will be murdered. Sarah returns from Darfur to be with the family, now only comprising her older sister Kate (Julie McNicholls). She takes part in the reconstruction of her sister_s last moments, urged on by a feeling of guilt. She has been absent for three years: missed her nieces birth and her sister_s death.She finds herself estranged from her family and haunted by the scenes she has witnessed in Darfur. She finds herself seeking solace in her memories and begins to form wild plans of adopting her niece, which are rebuffed by Kate, the named guardian. The play ends on the next scene, after a break of one year, as the police investigation is wound down. Sarah collects her sister_s belongings which have been retained as evidence, Lizzie Hyde portraying the assigned detective. And the chorus collect them along with the last of he clothes, and speak their last piece of history. And so the play concludes. As you may notice, there are a good number of plotlines there: an unresolved set of memories regarding the mother, the sister’s mother, Sarah’s absence and it’s influence on her siblings, the chorus and their involvement. This is both one of the plays most thought provoking qualities and at the same time its greatest weakness. Running only one hour, this is most certainly a short play, and so many plotlines are left unresolved. This leaves many of lines of reasoning to the imagination of the audience. While this can be endearing, at a certain point things begin to look underdeveloped. This doesn’t reflect on the actors, but there are plotlines left standing, while other’s are developed, and compelling parts of the play seem to fall by the wayside. These reservations notwithstanding, I have to say I very much enjoyed it, although it was one of those plays that will require some thought after it has finished. I found the studio setting exactly right for the intimacy of the story, and with some basic lighting to break things up, things progressed well. The actors also rose to occasion well, barring some line trouble in the opening chorus. The simplicity of the staging helped to give the story it’s own flavour, reflecting the attention of the audience back onto the story and performers, not onto the trappings of theatre. Of these there was very little: some basic sets and some opening music. A few costumes. Very little else. This was a truly studio production. To conclude, I have reservations about the play, but very much enjoyed it’s performance. It's always interesting to see an entirely new play, and this one was both highly individualistic and very much suited to the Louche Theatre ethos. Credit is due both the Director, Cast and to the crew, StuArt James, Richard Hull and Iestyn Griffiths. |
Reviewed by: Alex Gilbey |
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