Theatre
Reviews
Nl \'.'( )HK THE LOST ONES Touring 0.0
I wonder whether the average audience is quite as interested in the business of making art as many theatre companies imagine? The fascination with metanarrative that we’ve seen so much of in the theatre over the last decade or so tends to beg the question of whether people pay to see ponderings on the creative process or the final outcome of said process. I rather suspect they prefer the latter, but that said, Vanishing Point has made a pretty good fist of presenting another version of the former.
This piece, devised by the company, posits a writer, Theodore (Sandy Grierson), anxious about a past success and an uncertain future. His muse is the source of strange supernatural events, wrapped up with a mass murder of schoolchildren and a teacher on a mountain. Slowly, the narrative reveals by sporadic reconstruction the goings on of this dark day, and Theodore's very particular guilt as the soul survivor. Meanwhile, things fall apart at home, as the various centrifugal forces represented by the waking rational world of his wife Adele (Claire Lamont) and the
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. ' It" ‘ ‘1 4v: prerational world of Theodore’s literal and metaphysical ghosts come into conflict. Ultimately, we’re left with an examination of the cannibalistic nature of the artist.
There‘s a touch of magic about Matthew Lenton‘s production as it shifts fluently through many worlds of memory, nature and supernature in front of a simple but effective design by Kai Fischer. The eeriness of the atmosphere is lightened by some songs, very sweetly performed by Alastair Macrae, which add whimsy and occasional humour to the story. The play’s sometimes entrancing physical language is also fascinating to watch. There are some strong performances, too, particularly from Grierson as our troubled and twitchy anti-hero, and Lamont, a splendid young actor not frequently enough seen on our stages, as a woman trying to bring sense to her unredeemed husband.
For all that, I wonder if the piece itself lacks a little substance, a kind of Picnic At Hanging Rock without the social commentary to add power to the ontological questions raised. It's unquestionably beautifully executed, but a little slight in its final point about art and creativity. All the same, it‘s an eminently watchable evening of theatre. (Steve Cramer)
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in: SWANSONG Tron, Glasgow. Thu 18 Nov