Last night I dreamt I went to The REP again

Written 28 April 2015 **Spoilers**

What an exhilarating Knee High production of Rebecca, (based on Daphne du Maurier's novel)!
You HAVE to go and see this. It reminded me of the James plays that went from The REP to Edinburgh last year in the way the actors worked with the music, and danced, was brilliant.

The depth of the bass draws us in and the whole cast plays to its tune – the dirge of life. Their singing is part of a story that will continue even after all the characters are taken over by their flaws; power, lust, desire to know, desire to come of age, jealousy, fear, vanity… The all-engulfing sea and drowning bass are a dangerous siren that crashes men against the rocks, manipulating man’s desire to its own ends. The raw drama and bare emotion called the audience to follow the plot to journey’s end having felt with the characters, learnt and grown with them. The play is raw, bare and gripping: A true romance where love and death are truly mutually exclusive.

The play felt like a big screen event with the voice-over at the opening, the boat coming down and an epic column of cigarette smoke. The eerie cinematic silver screen smoke column envelops us disconcertedly and unknowingly into Mrs. de Winter’s dream - “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” We aren’t sure what will happen but we are about to be taken on a nostalgic journey… There was a definite resonance of the Hitchcock film not only through the play’s use of music but also in the way the actors walk in slow motion off the set: you feel like you’re in a cinema. The projection of shadows and silhouettes onto the walls of the house also added so much mystery to the plot.

The live music is a thread throughout the play which goes from being epic to sinister to comic to romantic: Songs such as One more day Johnny give an almost sea shanty-esque feel to the play with There may be trouble ahead adding a more 1940s dance room element to the piece whilst emphasising the play’s dark comedy.

Representing the fashion of the time was Maxim de Winter’s little sister. She was vivacious, and her Arabian fancy dress costume was decadent and fabulous; that velvet red dress as well! To. Die. For. The set, as always, was brilliant. The REP really “brings it” in terms of filling the space. The atmosphere was dark and brooding reflecting the black humour throughout the play. I think you know there is a good audience in when you are aware of laughing uproariously but think, “oh, it’s ok. Everyone is laughing too.” Especially when Maxim’s sister’s skirt fell off as she was walking down the stairs. I’m not sure it was part of the script but it could’ve been, the way she dealt with it. The actress completely went with it, got her skirt fixed by the actor playing her husband and then said, “I need a drink!” which was completely her character and was absolutely amazing! For what is quite a dark plot, I left the theatre feeling that I had laughed loads and had a cathartic experience.

Random offshoot but the play made me contemplate what a man would want from a woman in those times and contemporary times. When the innocence disappears from Mrs de Winter’s eyes, so does Maxim’s love for her. It was so sad that, as this woman grew in confidence, and finally learnt her place in the treacherous world she had become embroiled within, her lover turned from her because she had lost the innocence he first fell for – she was no longer unknowing. The power of Maxim’s previous wife, even, rots her and leads her to her death.

I’ll definitely be on the look-out for Knee High again and can only hope they might do a soundtrack. There’s always a sense of trepidation for me when going to the theatre because you want to experience something that will live up to your expectations. You’re taking a chance. I always hope the piece will make me feel and think about the play and the issues/themes within it and have writing, directing and a cast that makes me care about the characters and believe in them. Rebecca really stepped up to the plate and the folky music was right up my street. More excellent collaborations between different artforms please! Totally worth the money. I wanted to see the play again by the time I’d stepped into the dusky air outside of the theatre!

Back down - play review

Back Down - The Birmingham Repertory Theatre

The other night, I was explaining the plot of the play I’d just seen to my sister. The main thing she took from it was, “oh my gosh, Matt from Casualty was in it? Did you speak to him?” He was good. The way his expressions changed from character to character (as he told a story to the other people in the play) was immense. I felt completely drawn into the different spaces, times and people he was emulating and talking about.

The way the 3 teenage characters related to each other was brilliant. Sometimes screenplays don’t always implicate the characters’ back stories in general in the language so they over-explain things, but the relationship between the characters was palpable and, because this sort of coming of age/legend trip is so relatable, the play was easy to follow. 

The set was sparse, really simple. It consisted of a red ladder, which became a tent, some boxes as seats and a hillock of grass which became a car and a hill. They were really well-used by the actors and they were obviously completely comfy in the set.

This video link from The Roundhouse has Polarbear talking about Back Down so check it out, if you want.

I’m never sure if I should dress up for the theatre so I was just sitting in the togs I’d been wearing all day on the farm where I work but I love that cosy feel to a theatre, sitting in the dark, and the action on-stage made me feel like I was in Snowdonia with these 3 young lads celebrating their friendship (before one of them went off to Uni). I love that about stories and, to me, the play felt like a mixture of stories and a play. The lads recount memories on stage so it feels like they’re looking back on something that has happened and showing the fact that they survived it in a funny way.

I’d only heard a little bit about Polarbear from Twitter but he’s this spoken word artist who has worked with actors and created this play. This link to one of his pieces is really cool. I’m still not sure about the difference between telling stories and spoken word, but spoken word seems shorter, purposeful, there’s a rhythm to it and it’s like rap or poetry, something that leads to action like Jess Green’s open letter to Michael Gove: That was amazing too.

I thought the play was really fun and realistic, emotionally and with what happens on stage. I suppose it feels like that time has gone for me but it’s nice to snuggle back into those feelings again. I also like that they say they might as well have gone to Snow Hill if they weren’t going to climb up the whole of Mount Snowdon. That feeling of locality was great – because I know where Snow Hill is and I know the little places they talk about, that aren’t so little to me - BirminghamUK