| Stone City Blue by Ed Thomas |
| First presented in 2004 by Clwyd Theatr Cymru |
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cast size:4
synopsis: Winter in a city. Berlin, Paris, Cardiff, Antwerp It could be anywhere For the lovers, the losers, the lost and the beautiful the journey into night is just beginning. The streets are alive, restless, expectant, something will happen, must happen He knows this and so does she He’s in a hotel room, anonymous, functional, corporate She, somewhere in the city, checking her face in a compact She is alone; he’s waiting The name on the passport isn’t his and neither is the ring on her finger He’s a lost dog She’s a stray dog A stranger A poet A drunk A whore Four voices One city Together till dawn The end of the story? Or just the beginning? Stone City Blue is a new play by Ed Thomas whose previous plays include Gas Station Angel, Song From A Forgotten City and House of America, which he also directed as a feature film. |
There is 1 review of Clwyd Theatr Cymru's Stone City Blue in our database:
| A show with - bruised - balls | |
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Stone City Blue
by Ed Thomas
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[print] |
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venue Stiwdio R. Gerallt Jones, Parry-Williams Building |
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February 7, 2008 |
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| January 19th, 2008 David Ian Rabey is not known for giving his audiences an easy ride when he selects which plays to direct with his final-year drama students, and this year is no exception. Following on from the linguistically dense, stylistically heightened and emotionally punishing rollercoaster of Howard Barker’s ‘Gertrude – The Cry’ last January, he presented us with a show with no less impact on the emotions, but in a completely different mode of being – Ed Thomas’s semi-autobiographical ‘Stone City Blue’ – the story of one character with four distinct sides to them. Originally written for four actors, the company is to be commended for transposing this to a cast of fifteen without losing any of the power or intimacy of the piece. The story of Ray’s descent into a kind of psychosis in a faceless hotel room following the break-up of his marriage is not a simple one to convey, but the cast did superbly well in doing so. The stage on which this tour-de-force was set was remarkably effective for the intentions of the piece, thanks to the efforts of Amy Snelson and Nicola Staff, who also oversaw the costume, nay, uniform of the cast – pinstripe suits, white shirts and black ties. A distended X-shape platform, with audience seating in each of the angles allowed for a slightly subverted in-the-round experience which required a little effort on the audience’s part to indulge in a bit of craning to see everything that was going on. This did, however, feel in keeping with the nature of the play. Lighting complemented the set beautifully – Jess Mullins’s design encapsulating the stifling atmosphere of Ray’s experiences and creating a milieu that was at times womb-like in its intimacy and seedy in its hue. Add to this the Fourtet, Stan Tracey, Miles Davis and John Cale soundtrack and one is transported to a world of delicious unease. The cast who performed in this setting displayed the kind of dedication one should expect to see in a play of this ferocity. After all, the content is extremely bleak, the language strong at almost all times, and Rabey’s trademark inclusion of physical motifs and comfort-zone-breaking movement sequences do not make that journey any simpler. All, however, carried their part off with a greater or lesser degree of élan, but no-one did themselves, the author or the director (along with his assistant, Alec Reese) an injustice. Opening with an extremely disturbing and breathtakingly beautiful exordium, the cast introduced us to the world of the play in a way that no author could imagine, and continued to communicate with us the content with high levels of clarity. It is conceivably difficult to negotiate fifteen representations of the same character, even if grouped into four categories, but they managed it well. Stand-out performances include the ‘R4s’ - Aidan Crowe, whose naturally bullishness, tempered with a uniquely Hibernian vocal sensitivity, allowed him to give a soaring performance, investigating all emotional areas with an impressive level of artistic athleticism – a brand of athleticism shared by Sam Richardson and Edward Mundy in their performances. Amy Quesne negotiated her section of this part of the character with a natural poise and authority, and although I did feel her voice was coming under undue strain at times, this was forgivable in the light of the material. Hayley Eckard and Selina Scott-Bennin were also extremely impressive in their work. Eckard commanded the stage when needed and generously shared its ownership at other times, while Scott-Bennin mastered both physicality and the unique levels of Thomas’s humour. This is a show with balls – ever so slightly bruised balls, but balls nonetheless. Rabey and his team never once shirked the responsibility of communicating that, as part of the rich canopy of artistic intensity that Ed Thomas puts his audiences under. This was never going to be an easy show – however, when emerging from hearing this gruelling story, so well told, it is easy to be thankful for the challenge, for it truly is worth it. |
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| reviewer: Paddy Cooper |
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| If you know of any other existing review, or if you have any more information on Stone City Blue, (perhaps you were in the production or were the author or director) then please use the form below to send us the details |