CALEDONIAN SLEEPER (Edinburgh Festival)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/caledonian-sleeper

Available until: Unknown

The Edinburgh Festival is an important event in the calendar for many theatre fans, but it’s not something I’d experienced until lockdown. A number of different shows are available online. Some have to be watched live, but Caledonian Sleeper is one of many that can be watched on demand.

It’s the story of a man and woman, Joe and Grace, meeting on a train. Not exactly strangers on a train – they knew each other before, but a lot of time has passed. They’re on a sleeper train too which adds a literal element of darkness, though the time of night is really the last thing on your mind. There’s so much to worry about where these flawed and hurting but actually quite likeable people are concerned.

Michael Matar has written the friendship between them very realistically. At first, their conversation is natural as they fall back into the old rhythms and banter, but there’s also that slight awkwardness of recognising the ways in which they’re still the same people but acknowledging there are bound to be differences too. It’s fair to say they’re right about that. They’re both making this journey because of death. The train makes a great setting because it emphasises the feeling that Joe and Grace are caught up in something they can’t control and can’t stop… but we know they will stop. Their story won’t go on for months and years; it only lasts the length of a journey on a Caledonian sleeper train.

As the night goes on, they share not only the surface stories of their lives, they also share their immediate situations and the problems they’re facing, or trying not to face. Director Nick J. Field acknowledges the pandemic with Grace’s appearance in a mask and sets the characters up with a table between them, socially distant and yet still naturally positioned so you’re not reminded of the pandemic when there are other things to think about. He allows the humour to shine through (particularly in his own cameo as a… I’ll let you find out that for yourself), but there’s always an atmosphere of unease; a feeling that something is very wrong.

Michael Matar appears as the tortured but mostly likeable and charming Joe. It’s a great portrait of someone who is suffering underneath the surface but can still ‘do normal’, at least to an extent. Michael brings the two sides of Joe’s character together into a consistent whole, which I find convincing and relatable.

Olivia Millar-Ross is sweet but very honest as Grace, with a quirky bubbliness and a scary temper - another complex but very interesting human being whom you can’t help liking and it’s another great performance. Olivia has perfect comic timing, but she’s very versatile and can also be incredibly moving.

A really interesting and intense play with really strong performances from the two main actors.