Tuesday 23 March 2010

Brimstone and Treacle


Blindly scraping nails on the lid.

It would be easy to say that this play is not for the fainthearted - but that would be easy, not fair.

I'll admit that I had only the highest expectations for the second play directed by Alex Needham but, to unfortunately sound cliché, I was not disappointed in the slightest.

The set was cluttered yet clean and wonderfully thoughtful; the set even continued past the doors to offstage which was just great attention to detail.

Where to start with the performances and subject matter. This play explored a fear that I believe rests, in some form or another, within every human. That fear that when you try to scream for help, no one will hear you, that fear of being capable of thought but trapped inside a limiting body. That frustration is portrayed so incredibly realistically by Patty throughout - she never breaks character, not even for a second.

The parents, Amy and Tom, are convincing as a married couple. It is quite amazing how they can sometimes carry on as if Patty is not in the room and how they can suck the audience in so that the audience, too, forget that she is there. It is quite worrying, the effect that this had.

To say too much about Martin’s character would ruin the storyline somewhat but I will say this, his monologues were spine-chilling, juxtaposed with his eloquent yet eerie niceties and aside glances. He is certainly one to watch.

There were recurring themes of the soullessness of animals, denial, the loss of hope and prayer, of good and evil and racism and a wish for things to be as they once were. Although the situation is not one many of the audience will be directly familiar with, the themes can certainly resonate. There is a disturbing mix of pleasantries and good coffee contrasting with the moaning of a soul in pain and the desperation of loss.

It is quite poignant when you think about the senses and how the loss of one can heighten the others, even more so when you can see that having all senses intact can almost make you more senseless. The play also touches on a real sense of evil and how it can infiltrate a family and play on their fears, faith and hope.

This is a play to be seen by anyone who wants a thought provoking evening that will stick with you for some time to come. This play will certainly not leave your troubled mind in a hurry, which is exactly the effect I believe it is intended to have. It begs the question, exactly what would you endure just to enable things to be as they were before?

Brimstone and Treacle is on at the Kelvin Studio in Bristol from 23rd to 27th March 2010

(Photograph by Owen Benson)