By Cal
Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/20/a-splinter-of-ice
Available until: 31st July 2021 at 11.55pm
The reviews say you’ll get more from the play if you know about the Cold War. It’s impossible to be sure whether this is true or not, but my lack of knowledge certainly didn’t prevent me from enjoying the play. Perhaps I even had an advantage as everything in the play was new to me. I also haven’t read any Graham Greene and spent part of the play mentally confusing him in my head with Graeme Garden, but I still had no difficulty in enjoying it.
Ben Brown’s play is a fictional account of what I think was a real meeting between Graham Greene, who is not only a writer but a former member of MI6, and Kim Philby, his supervisor at M16, who was actually a double agent for the Soviet Union. Although Graham only worked for MI6 for three years, he learned more than enough to write some very popular spy novels, along with some serious Catholic novels, short stories and plays, as well as being a journalist.
In these three years, the two men forged a close friendship, but after Philby’s subterfuge was discovered, it seemed sensible for him to go and live in Moscow. He lived there until his death in 1988, two years after the events of the play took place. In the play, Graham visits Moscow for a conference and decides it would also be a good opportunity to visit his old friend and mentor. Graham meets Rufa, Kim’s fourth wife, and the two men reminisce about the old days, learning even more about each other in the process.
For a story about spies, it is perhaps slightly on the uneventful side, but as a story about two fascinating men with a unique connection, it is very interesting to watch. The script is calm, polite and respectful with no aggression and it really seems as though the men are genuinely fond of each other, even after all the time that has passed and the revelation of Kim’s betrayal of his country, but there is something under the surface. A sort of energy. There’s certainly nothing sexual about it, but these men have chemistry. Enough to make you feel that it’s possible for this meeting to end in discord, but not so much that you wanted it. These two have a very special friendship.
Alastair Whatley directs the piece with Alan Strachan. It is filmed in the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre (and it will tour the country once it’s legal and safe to do so), but it felt as though it was being filmed on location in someone’s living room – so you can’t say that Michael Pavelka’s set isn’t realistic. The directors got the undercurrents between the two male characters at what felt like exactly the right pitch and there are some brilliant moments when the action pauses and one of the characters makes us wait for his response to a challenging question or comment. The pauses are short enough to be realistic, but long enough to be moments of tension.
Oliver Ford Davies is excellent as Graham Greene. Intelligent and probing but ultimately quite a kind man, it’s a finely-nuanced performance. The only possible issue is that when the play transfers to the theatre, a lot of the audience will miss everything he conveys with his eyes, but at the same time, he’s an incredible actor and I’m sure he’ll be able to adapt his performance from film to stage.
Stephen Boxer is a strong-willed Kim, occasionally evasive and revealing no more than he wants to. There are times when it seems he’s said all he’s going to say, but then we hear a sudden burst of warmth and humanity which explains the affection and friendship Graham feels for him, even after everything that’s happened. Perhaps Kim isn’t the sort of man I’d be inclined to trust, but if he did happen to be on my side (and my side alone), I think I’d be very fortunate. There’s something very admirable about his complete acceptance of the situation he’s in.
Kim’s wife Rufa, played by Sara Crowe, is a more enigmatic figure, which is a shame in some ways as it would have been interesting to know more about Kim’s wife, but she obviously couldn’t have been part of the long conversation between her husband and his friend and her reserve is probably only natural in the circumstances. She seems quietly competent but little else. Sara probably could have done more with the role, but that probably didn’t fit with the directors’ vision of Rufa, which is definitely a valid one.
Original Theatre Online have stopped surprising me with
their brilliance, but they keep on surprising me with their subject matter. I
have no idea what they’ll do next, but I hope I’ll get to see it.
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