At Sgript Cymru |
| Sgript Cymru- Crossings , Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff , March 18, 2005 |
| With this play Clare Duffy continues to establish herself as a writer ready to tackle difficult contemporary situations with both a strong theatrical flair and an incisive understanding of the fact that some questions just can’t be answered. Sam, a sixteen-year-old rent boy, is dead but he won’t go away. Jane, seventeen, living at home with her mother and stepfather, self-harms. No one can tell why – can anyone ever tell why? She had befriended Sam shortly before his death, they had become soul mates, instinctively they felt they had something in common, though they wouldn’t have been able to articulate what it was. Jane just can’t get Sam out of her mind. He’s there with her throughout the play. No one else can see him. Dylan Williams, caked in sand, breathes a paradoxical vitality into his role that clearly defines both the cunning and the vulnerability of this likeable yet disturbed young man. Everyone believes that Sam has killed himself but he tells Jane that he has been murdered and she sets out to discover the truth, if there is a truth. As at this play, the audience sits at one end of the room and the players present the story at the other. Here with Simon Harris’ quietly controlled directing, the reality of the script and the living of the dialogue, this was more than acting, the people and events wrapped themselves completely around us. Towards the end of the play the suffering that Jane was experiencing, played with total conviction and total reality by Michelle Luther, was so intense it almost became unbearable. I had to force myself not to leave the theatre, I was so moved. Jane’s mother, performed with such convincing strength by Clêr Stephens is wracked with worry and frustration by her daughter. Her husband, another subtle and extremely effective piece of acting from Jem Dobbs, tries to be understanding to both wife and daughter, with little success. Jane’s teenage lover Bethan also finds it difficult to get close to Jane as she tries to seek out the truth of Sam’s death. The delicacy of this relationship is clearly drawn and in the long run probably saves the day. The need to have someone to be with, to share our innermost thoughts, is at the core of this play but not all of us are fortunate to find that love. Eventually Jane shares the beach, where Dan was finally found, with Stephen. Sam, so appropriately choreographed throughout the play, here is a seagull soaring down and pinching Stephen’s chips. Conversation is tentative at first. Stephen is a kindly man, intelligent, he teaches at the university. Sam had got into his life. Stephen was desperately in love with one of his students, a free spirit, Adam. Adam made it clear he had no wish to return Stephen’s love. They play out their strong sexual attraction on stage, the lovemaking is pretty wholesome telling us of Stephen’s need for a real deep love that seems to always have eluded him. Adam has also had a fling with Sam. Stephen is scared he will lose Adam and frightens Sam off him. Jane sees a motive for a killing; she looks as if she might follow Sam into the sea. This is much more than a story of who wins and who loses in love. We see the entwinings and loosenings of the first experiences of love between Jane and Bethan and the many difficulties in other relationships sensitively and compellingly expressed in this very welcome Sgript Cyrmu new commission. One that has been given a very fine production with an exciting setting by David Farley and a cast giving some of the finest acting to be seen in Wales, or anywhere else for that matter. |
Reviewed by: Michael Kelligan |
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