THE WRITER (Richard Burton Company/Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)****

 

By Dave

 

Link: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/events/writer 

Available until: 22^nd April 2021

The Writer isn’t an easy play to review. There’s a lot I can’t say because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. But I’ll start off and let’s see what happens.

The play begins in a theatre. A young woman enters the circle. A man comes onto the stage and sees her. He actually looks like a young man but he’s not that young. That did confuse me for a bit but then I realised this is a student production so it’s going to be ageblind. He asks her what she thought of the play and she tells him.

A simple enough idea which turns into a very interesting debate on theatre. What’s real. What isn’t. Why it’s not real. What could make it real.

These two characters don’t continue debating for the rest of the play but in a sense the debate does continue. The characters keep questioning reality and theatre. Also how the practical needs can conflict with the creative needs. The playwright has an idea and writes the play and they know where they want to go with it but is it a story they can really tell?

Ella Hickson has written a fascinating play. Her characters are engaging and intriguing (okay, maybe there are one or two I feel the urge to be rude to but an engaging character isn’t always the same as an engaging person). The script is very sharp and it’s demanding of the audience as well as the actors. It drives forward, it’s passionate and you really want to know what happens next and where the characters will take us.

The play also examines sexism. Maybe I’m not getting this part because I’m a guy but although there are definitely plenty of examples of men treating women badly, it is maybe open to question whether a man would treat a man differently in the same situation. Or whether a woman would treat a man differently. Is the problem that it’s a man and a woman, or an authority figure who sees the other as a subordinate, or is there more to it? Maybe the fact I’m not sure is kind of the point. There are lots of questions in this play but there aren’t always answers.

Selma Dimitrijevic directs and unlike the fictional directors, she really seems to believe in the writer. One thing that really stands out for me is the way the atmosphere in some of the scenes can change in a moment, like someone flipped a switch. This has a big impact. Selma lets you think a scene is going in one direction then she puts in a bit of a pregnant pause (and pregnancy isn’t completely irrelevant either) and the scene turns into something new. Have you ever been in a conversation about something and you think about one thing but actually it’s about something else? Or maybe when it really has been about what you thought but suddenly it changes to something else? That is really captured well.

The cast of four, some of them in multiple roles, do a great job of portraying the characters and keeping the drama and the energy going. Rue Blenkinsop and Cameron Chapman give the play a very dramatic opening which really grabs your attention. Later, the focus is more on Thea Mayeux and the frustrations of her character’s personal and professional life as she searches for the truth. The way she maintains the intensity of her performance is really impressive and her character seems somehow strong and weak at the same time. She knows and believes in what she’s doing but there are barriers at every turn. Archie Redford’s character isn’t someone we get to know nearly as well on a personal level but he still makes a strong impact and is an important part of the play.

I hope I’ve done justice to the play without saying too much. But it really is a great play, well worth a watch for anyone who’s interested in theatre. Actors, writers, directors, audience, the lot.