The 70-minute performances of this Renegade / Harriet Roberts co-production can be seen in the main theatre of the Blue Room, James Street, Northbridge commencing at 7.00 pm each evening until Saturday 30^th April.

There is a single row of chairs around this ‘in the round’ set.

The set, designed by Cherish Marrington, comprises a 3-metre, circular platform, raised about 15 cms off the floor. It is patterned with old Gaelic symbols; this is seaside shack of the fisherman. Stage managed by Meabh Walton.

White gauze is draped towards the centre of the ceiling. Thin strips of polythene hang from the roof, and with the clever lighting (designer, Joe Lui) the overall effect is of realistic icicles and snow – very appropriate for the north of Scotland. The lighting temperature changed with the mood of the script.

        The lights rise to show a creature (Cherish Marrington also designed the costumes), with fur on its shoulders, long clawed fingers and a thin skin that showed the bone structure and blood vessels beneath. It is a Selkie (Yilin Kong). She is slithering and undulating her way around the beach, stalked by a fisherman (Kynan Hughes) who is carrying a towel. He is trying to wrap and protect the creature that is shivering and distressed.

      Back in the house, a young girl, Rónnad (Ella Hetherington) is waking up. Immediately she starts searching for something that she has lost, but she is interrupted by the fisherman (Paul Grabovac) who found her lying on the beach after a storm.

      The lonely fisherman took her to his home and is now trying to get some strength back into her frail body. It is a long time since he has enjoyed company in his house. He tries her with various foods, but she has a penchant for fish.

      This is a sad tale of deep love and affections that appears doomed from the start, but can adoration overcome the problems?

 

O’Branagáin’s tale was first released to the Curtin Uni theatre students about 6 months ago, allowing the author to see how the script worked on stage. Playwright, Finn, has made small changes to the dialogue for this presentation.

At the Hayman Theatre in Curtin, it was beautifully performed as a simple tale. Now, the much-admired director of this show, Joe Lui, has further developed the story, giving it a clever, second dimension; this is a flashback that looks at what happened weeks earlier, whilst the main story is being enacted centre stage. The result is skilful and intriguing, but possibly a little too ingenious and complex (?).

As with all of Joe Lui’s plays, the soundscape includes specially composed music coupled with complex sound effects. This show ranges from thunderous storms to soft – almost inaudible – sensitive melodies.

Talented choreographer, Laura Boynes, has been given a wonderful pair of gifted dancer to direct. Kynan and Yilin seem to float across the stage as though they were frolicking in the ocean. Yilin gave a heart pulling performance as she lay exposed to the elements twitching on the beach, you could feel her suffering. Ella and Paul, who have had numerous acting nominations over the years, added greatly to the depth of this unusual tale.

An exceptional show of movement, love and deceit.

The Blue Room and New Ghosts have collaborated to give us this one-hour production, which can be seen for one week only, in the main theatre, at the Blue Room, James Street, Northbridge at 7.00 pm each night until this Saturday, 27^th June.

The set is a kitchen / lounge in a student style flat. It has a working sink unit, fridge, table, chairs and settee. In a first time ever (?) there are all four walls to the room set. It is viewed in the round. The walls are waist high with a metre break – like an all-around window – and then the walls (suspended) continue to the ceiling. This gives the drama the desired claustrophobic effect, and gives the audience members a true feeling of being a voyeuristic fly on the wall. Clever design from Patrick Howe, aided by stage manager Daley King.

        Three months ago, when young Charlie’s (Paul Grabovac) world came crashing down, he went to stay with some caring friends, Clara and Tommy.

        It is now 2.00 am, and in the dim light Charlie, who has fallen asleep on the sofa, awakes from a recurring nightmare screaming the name ‘Lily’. Bleary eyed, Clara (Mikala Westall) comes rushing through from her bedroom to console him, and drags him off to his bed.

        Next day, Clara and her partner, Tommy (James Marzec) try to cheer up Charlie, by offering to take him to the footie, but this is to no avail, his depression is not improving.

       A few days later, to Charlie’s horror, his fiancée Grace (Salacia Briggs) arrives at the flat unannounced, wondering why he had ‘disappeared off the Earth’ with quite a few problems requiring to be resolved. The story takes a dramatic twist.

       Who is Lily? Are Clara and Tommy the sincere caring friends Charlie thinks they are?

What an amazing cast director Joe Lui (assisted by playwright Lucy Clements) has gathered. The four actors gave an immense depth of feeling to the script, and held the suspense and mystery of the play right to the end. Their parts all called for a full range of emotions, from tenderness to outright anger, and were beautifully acted.

The soundscape of deep rumbling music and clever lighting (Joe Lui) emphasised the trauma and misery in Charlie’s head.

The rapidly twisting story threads may leave some of the audience reeling and wondering what is happening, but this is certainly an outstanding production that I would love to see again, but the rapidly filling houses may make this impossible.

Every now and again a play comes along that ticks all of the boxes, this is one of them. An intelligent piece of theatre, highly recommended.

The simple, but most effective set (designer Sara Nives Chirichilli) is totally painted black. In a corner a massive, oak-like tree climbs the wall. Under its branches sits an old ‘car’ – represented by two tatty car seats. The floor is strewn with dry leaves. The lighting by Joe Lui employed small spots and tiny floods, with a rainbow of colours carefully considered and controlled. Magnificent visual effects.

       An extremely nervous and tense young woman, smartly dressed in a pink cable knit cardigan and beige slacks, is sitting in the car. This is Ruth (Georgia King). She checks her watch, then looks deep into the forest but whoever she is looking for is not in sight.

     She is on the verge of panicking when a well-built man in his twenties, Steve (Paul Grabovac) strolls next to the car. He has been lost in the woods and couldn’t find his way. Despite being pleased to see Steve, Ruth is obviously worried by is presence. It turns out that they have only met on the internet and that this is actually their first face-to-face meeting.

      Why has Ruth arranged this meeting out in the wilderness?

From the very first minute Georgia King starts to build up the tension and the enigma of the situation. Paul Grabovac is the perfect bouncing board. He gives a wonderful air of fun and ease in contrast to the neurotic behaviour of the young woman. The script was superbly written, but Joe Lui’s handling and direction the tempo and mood was made to oscillate. One minute there was sympathy, then tension and worry, followed by one or two real belly laughs.

The hour passed quickly with not a second dragging, the audience just sat there in total silence and anticipation of what would happen next. An intelligent play perfectly acted.