Out of Joint, Bush Theatre and Exeter Northcott Theatre Production of Ciphers by Dawn King, Saturday 18th January 2014

In “Ciphers” we follow two stories simultaneously. The first is the story of Justine, a languages expert newly recruited to a British intelligence agency. The second is the story of Kerry, Justine’s elder sister who is trying to unravel the mystery of Justine’s life after her suspicious death. As the name suggests this play revolves around encrypted messages. There are those Justine tries to decipher in her job and the way she communicates with her lover so his wife doesn’t find out.

Misdirection is a key theme in the play with each actor playing two roles. Justine and Kerry are played skillfully by Grainne Keenan who managed to elicit empathy for both characters. The change of clothes which accompanied the change in character was perhaps too subtle for some of the audience members (judging by the discussions I overheard in the interval). However, I thought each character was well defined by the actors, each with their own mannerisms, way of speaking and moving.

The staging of the play was very clever and effective. Large off-white screens were the backdrop and an otherwise empty stage contained either a versatile table (which could be a desk or a painter’s easel) or a platform. Scene changes were fast. At the beginning they were accomplished by one of the screens being passed across the front of the stage and one scene being replaced by another behind it. As the play went on the scene changes became less precise with the actors having to switch between characters almost in front of the audience. I felt this was adding to the confusion as the characters and the audience tried to establish truth.

However, there is more to this play than espionage, either professional or otherwise. One of the most moving scenes in this production is a conversation between Kerry and her father (played very truthfully by Bruce Alexander) about Justine’s death. Kerry can’t accept the official line that her sister killed herself because she wants to believe Justine had value, that her death and life wasn’t pointless. For her father, Justine was always of value regardless of what she did or didn’t do. Indeed the title has another meaning, “of no value” and this is the motivation for all of Justine’s actions. She becomes a spy because she wants to be someone important and isn’t that a feeling we can all empathise with?

Progress Theatre's Production of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, adapted for the stage by Russ Tunney, Friday 17th January 2014

This is a play based on the book of the same name by Joan Aiken. The story revolves around two girls; Bonnie (Isabel Brodie), who lives on a large country estate with her loving parents and Sylvia (Poppy Price), her impoverished orphan cousin from London. When Bonnie’s father takes her mother on a sea voyage for her health he arranges for Sylvia to keep Bonnie company.  The setting for the story is an alternative 19^th century England where wolves terrorize the countryside.

The production opens in a schoolroom with a strict schoolmaster who objects to noise. When he eventually leaves the room the children start to tell each other a story. Two of the girls are transformed into Bonnie and Sylvia and the great make believe begins. The other “children” take on various roles as required, change or even become part of the scenery and create atmospheric noises such as the sound of Sylvia’s train. Breaking up the action were several songs which were performed well. Especially notable was Anjali Singh who sang with conviction and feeling.

The sense of “make believe” was maintained throughout the production as most of the ensemble (and this really was an ensemble performance) stayed on stage and watched the action when not a part of it. The only character not played by the children was the wicked governess, Miss Slighcarp (competently played by Rod Sloan). This was the first but not the only cross dressing in the production and whilst consistent with the “make believe” theme I found it a little too pantomime for my taste. Having said that I must applaud Geoff Dallimore for his commitment to and comic portrayal of all three characters he played including the “stout woman” Brisket.

This production was fun and full of humour especially in the use of props and I would certainly describe it as family friendly. However, the sense of make believe was too strong in my opinion. I never felt the girls were really affected by anything that happened to them and there were moments when I felt I was really watching a group of children playing make believe. Overall, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase could have done with a little more bite.