Shades of Grey - Garrick Theatre

**WARNING: This post may be exceptionally long because this review is part of my folio** I saw Garrick Theatre's One Act Season entitled "Shades of Grey" last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Each of the three one act plays here will be given as follows Title: Playwright: Director: Plot: Comments: PLAY ONE: “The Lesson” PLAYWRIGHT: Eugene Ionesco DIRECTOR: Jean-Marie Paquier PLOT LINE: Premiering in 1951 Ionesco’s play is a comment on the Nazi Party in Germany. In 45mins we see the accent of a Professor into madness and frustration at his New Pupil’s lacking ability to understand the fundamental nature of mathematics and philology. Opening with the house maid “Marie” who invites the New Pupil inside and fetches the Professor. A seemingly bright child the pupil’s limitations become obvious not long into the lesson. Marie continues to warn the professor about getting frustrated and angry but the Professor continues his lesson moving from mathematics onto philology. Marie warns him again about the symptoms the Pupil is developing but the Professor continues his lesson. As the Professors lesson becomes more and more absurd the Pupil’s symptoms increase beginning with a tooth ache and working pain through her body. The play climaxes with the Professor killing the young pupil. Marie then comforts him and they take the Pupil’s body out the back to put in a coffin. The door bell rings and Marie goes to open it and introduce the New Pupil. COMMENTS: From experience Absurdist Theatre is all about the dialogue. The trick to watching absurdist plays is not to think. The less you think about what is being said and simply listen the more you will understand it. The cast were magnificent. The Professor (insert name) lesson was delivered almost flawlessly. As the lesson continued the Pupil’s originally friendly and bright nature spirals down into pain and despair. She does not learn from her lesson but it is the audience who is supposed to learn from it. The character of Marie was very military style, stiff and strong. She seemed a person no one could bend. It was her authoritarian state that made the connection with the Third Reich easier for the audience. The play lacks context and lacks meaning and thus the design roles - set, light, sound and costume - were faced with a formidable task. The set was simple. One lounge, a table and two chairs. (see diagram below). The costuming was varied not focusing on time. But each costume fitted the characters well. I found the use of stereotypes contrasted uniquely well with the lack of time and age. The Pupil’s costume being more stereotyped and more modern - a red pleated skirt, long white socks and black shoes with a white shirt - showing her youth. Whereas the Professor’s costume was older and again stereotyped with the vest and pin striped pants - more proper and from a different time period. Marie’s military style outfit fit well with her role as the link to the military and the red arm band displaying the outright link with the Nazi’s and Hitler. Sound and Lighting were quite good. The opening with the banging sounds. Perhaps the key scene for sound and lighting was the murder of the Pupil by the Professor. The lighting, in mt opinion was a little to bright and although the flashes and clashing lights created an atmosphere of confusion I think that the white wash should be taken off. This would help add to the confusion but also add more of a silhouette to the action. Overall the performance was very well done and the tediousness was felt by the audience. The continuous lack of meaning about what we are suppose to already know was frustrating as an audience member and thus I believe the play achieved it’s goal. The abrupt ending, leaves the audience confused as they walk out of the theatre. The lesson is never finished and teachers are suppose to conclude their points before class is dismissed. PLAY TWO: “Quake” PLAYWRIGHT: Anthony Booth DIRECTOR: Jeff Watkins PLOT LINE: Following the story of five women, wives of men working on a dam in South America. They are returning from a shopping trip when they are caught up in an earth quake and left isolated. Their driver is killed in the quake. They find shelter in a cattle station nearby but as time goes by they begin to lose hope of being rescued and begin to make plans to begin walking back to the camp they came from. Through “unusual circumstances” their clashing personalities are put aside and a bond is formed for survival. Each character’s story is revealed throughout the play and each comes into their true self and eventually reach a level of common understanding. COMMENTS: First time director Jeff Watkins’ took on a challenging one act play. A complex plot and a lot of information stashed into 45mins of stage time. So congratulations to him on this outstanding achievement and may you go on to bigger and greater things Jeff - as they say. The cast worked effortlessly with each other throughout the play. There were no tag-alongs as everyone held their characters exceptionally well. Many strong characters came across to the audience and only a couple of line hiccups were noticeable. Each character possessed a particular nature and individual traits distinguishing them from each other and also steering clear of stereotyped characteristics. Marcia’s character was headstrong and stubborn in her strength. Her clashes with Ellen were powerful and showed off the strength and weakness of her character well. Of particular note were Pearl and Ellen’s use of voice - in particular Pearl’s accent. Sheena’s constant fear was demonstrated well through her posture and body language. She seemed to always be stooped or shaking to some degree. Sue’s attack of Sheena - physically - was impressive enough. All the cast held characters well and made obvious distinguishing character traits and attitudes. Watching their interaction in their unusual circumstances was enjoyable and you empathised with them easily at times. The set began as a scene of organised chaos. Table, chairs and crates scattered across the stage. The posters on the back wall added to the character of the cattle station and gave the impression of a dominant all male presence. The lighting was simple all the way through, a white wash with blackouts to show the passing of time. The sound effects were quite extensive for a short play. Perhaps the most amusing sound effect was the wall of water that came rushing towards them the same time the rain began pouring down outside. The sound effect stopped - the rain didn’t. The costuming of this piece was distinctive to a time period. I believe the two most well done were the characters of Sheena and Marcia. Sheena’s pink cardigan, simple shirt and floral skirt with a weaved bag - with flowers on it - and heeled shoes showed her character’s off well and also was one of the most “timed” costumes. Marcia’s costume was different to that of the other characters. More tom boy - not very feminine. This costuming made more sense after she reveals her secret. All round the performance was exceptionally well done. The cast all held their own quite strongly and the characters were defined well. The true hopelessness of their situation was revealed through several conversations but their continual hope and strength pulled the girls through onto their next challenge. A congratulations to the cast and crew and again to director Jeff for an enjoyable performance. PLAY THREE: “Awakenings” PLAYWRIGHT: Daniel Kershaw DIRECTOR: Sarah House PLOT LINE: Rufus and Allan are room mates. Sophie is Allan’s girlfriend. The play opens with Rufus going through his fitness routine at home. Allan - an aspiring writer - storms on yelling at Rufus - which does not appear to be abnormal in any sense. They continue arguing. Allan’s writing his first novel. Sophie has had a rotten day at work and comes to see Allan. Allan’s constant lack of sympathy towards her gets them into another fight. Sophie storms out of the apartment as Rufus comes home with the milk. Allan doesn’t understand anything and lamely attempts to talk it through with Rufus - who he considers a ‘bone head’ to say the least. Through the conversation much is revealed about both characters - Allan and Rufus - and they must now find a general ground to stand on with each other. Rufus manages to give Allan advice about dealing with Sophie and Allan manages to allow Rufus to open up about being gay. A light comedy that deals with relationships and truths. COMMENTS: Hilarious. Congratulations to Daniel Kershaw. Well written play indeed. The character’s are easily likeable and also easy to laugh with. As an audience member I had no problem empathising with these people. All three actors held true to their characters. Although I found at some places a lack of vocal range may have been encountered. The general use of body and voice was well done - in particular the character of Rufus - whose constant light energy contrasted well with Allan’s frustration and tension. The tension between Sophie and Allan was noticeable as soon as Sophie set foot onstage and developed as their situation was revealed to the audience and they began arguing again. The character of Rufus would be my personal favourite in this particular piece. His appearance as the stereotyped alpha male whose not the brightest of people to the generally thoughtful and open man he is at the end of the play. The design for this piece was general and more modern then the other two plays. The use of lines in the costuming - in particular - helped to set the context up for the audience - time and age of the characters in particular. The lighting was a simple white wash throughout the entirety of the play and no sound was used. Overall I enjoyed this performance. It was relaxing in a strange way - yes I found tension relaxing. The lines were delivered well and no noticeable stuff ups were made. The use of pauses in particular was excellent. So congratulations to all involved. And congratulations to all involved in the 2006 One Act Season and thank you for an enjoyable night out. ~ Tari