The venue seems much too small to house a play such as this. There is no escape for anyone once they are in there, especially the actor who, having no backstage to shelter in, find themselves cowering in the shadows, desperately trying not to get in the way of each other. Much of the action in the play involves intense scenes of violence, and when the cast are only a couple of feet away, there is no room for the imagination to fill in the blanks.
The cast were competent, but unfortunately, that’s the only compliment I can give them. Sarah Kane came up with a wonderfully poetic and terrifying script, but none of the actors really did it justice. The characters, all tormented by inner demons were played by very middle class actors, who couldn’t seem to get past their ‘middle classness’ to offer up true performances. Their overacting, particularly in the scenes of violence, often came across as slightly comedic (this maybe wouldn’t have been the case if the audience had been allowed the luxury of having a little distance from the action), and their voices all were a little too trained and restricted by the conventions of drama school tutoring to make them believable as the characters they were portraying.
The most interesting feature of this production by far was the script. Having previously never heard of Sarah Kane, this has lead me to take interest in productions of other plays of hers that have been brought to the festival this year. Both Crave and 4.48 Psychosis are being shown in various venues and I shall certainly go out of my way to catch them.
2/5
Becky Stone
