This review has been taken from my NSDF blog, written for the Peter de Haan Charitable Trust.
Haunting accordion strains crackle through the chilling air and childish crayon drawings greet the eyes as audience enter for their encounter with Hester Swain - Irish Traveller, Mystic – her last hours, the action about to be witnessed. Played commandingly by Fiona Mikel, she shimmers on stage, a mix of caustic venom and frailty, as she sways like the rags adorning her ramshackle caravan. This Irish Medea, Euripides’ original transposed by playwright Marina Carr, is the offering of Warwick University to the Festival and the tale which unfolds in this forsaken bog captivates entirely. Swain, visited by soothsayers heralding her end, is confronted with eviction from both love and property and the play becomes an account of the death-throes of the condemned. The performance’s traverse staging is an inspired artistic choice, the crux of which, a derelict bathtub, bears the grisly finale to this lurid account. Despite the silent pleas there is no respite: as audience heart-strings snap, those opposite are illuminated by harsh florescent tube lights, their reaction as much part of the performance as that unfolding on stage. This tautness is created through expert work by the actors, in a strong cast Rio West’s Josie and Matt Stokoe’s Carthage excelling alongside the inimitable Hester. In the cold Clive Wolfe Auditorium, the harsh landscape of the bog is created through the meticulous design and subtle lighting. The live musicians play with a haunting beauty whilst the sound design imbues the evening with an eeriness of an almost tangible quality. Bertrand Lesca’s production is a compelling performance, charged with a rare energy. This is theatre at its visceral and desolate best.
By the Bog of Cats: *****
Image courtesy of Peter Marsh, Ashmore Visuals.
No comments:
Post a Comment