Progress Theatre’s 9th Annual Writefest showcasing the 7
winning submissions (of more than 50) of short plays. The programme again delivered
a smorgasbord of plays exploring many contemporary themes. The compere, Anna
Jennings, moved the proceedings forward introducing each of the plays with a
touch of comedy. Here are my thoughts on this year’s offerings in order of
viewing.
Revenge is a Dish Best Taken with Honey
Short and sweet. There were no surprises in the short and
sweet piece by William Irvine but it had some great characterisations that were
funny and well observed. It would have been improved in my opinion if “Clinton”
had directed his examples of naughty one-liners at the audience rather than at
his long suffering teacher and if these had become more outrageous, quick-fire
and frenetic.
The Deep Blue
This wasn't really a satisfying short play for two reasons.
The first was a feeling of vagueness about the whole piece emphasised by the
audience having to guess what “mental illness” was being portrayed when it
rather seemed to me that none of the actors themselves knew. I must admit I
first thought this was a piece about a man who could see ghosts, then thought
the child/man “Jonathan” might be autistic before actually reading the program
and realising it was some mysterious mental health problem probably related to
depression given the title. I would have preferred it if “Jonathan” had made
the curdling screams rather than a recording, to better connect the past with
the present. Secondly, the piece did not have a story arc that I could make
sense of and felt more like a scene taken from a longer piece. It was therefore
difficult to empathise with any of the characters and the “it was just a dream”
or in this case “figments of his imagination” ending was disappointing.
Yawn
I rather enjoyed this short, funny and truthful piece about
two new fathers taking a moment to rest whilst walking their babies in the
park. Whilst I guessed the ending from the second line in, I was not expecting
the twists in the middle. I especially liked the moments when the two men unconsciously
resembled babies themselves with large yawns and stretching. My only real
criticism was that the repetition on comic effects (i.e. the 1st Dad
has a silly lullaby and then the 2nd Dad also has one) sometimes
stretched the humour & made the play longer than it needed to be but I
suspect that this is a personal judgement (not least because of the laughter of
fellow audience members around me).
No. 11
I really, really liked this. A very intense staging of a
dark, strange yet compelling short play. The characterisation of “Gregor” was
brilliant. I don’t want to say any more in-case it spoils the surprise for
future audience members!
The Flood
Unfortunately, after a promising start, this piece left me
unmoved. There were a few too many “Stage-School” techniques getting in the way
of the storytelling for my taste. I think this would have been a much more
powerful piece if the lighting effects and line repetition were all stripped
away (with the exception of the spotlight on “Maureen” which was necessary). I
didn't feel the menacing threat of the flood which was a shame because I
thought it was a great metaphor for the overwhelming sense of loss “Rachel” was
battling with throughout the piece. Otherwise a good story and solid
performances.
Now
A thoughtful and interesting short play about the choices
people make when they think they have no other viable options. I enjoyed the
characters, performances and the story but was left feeling that I had seen an
abridged version which had missed out some key scenes which would have given me
more empathy and insight into the two men reaching out to the audience to be
understood. This would be my pick to be developed further into a longer play.
Don’t Leave Me Alone
This was a play of two halves. In the first half we had some
amusing banter between two male friends, one of whom seemed to have a serious
social anxiety disorder. In the second half the “normal” guy’s girlfriend
arrives and is left alone with the friend who turns out to have more social
skills than he was letting on. The characters were good, the comedy was good
and the story was good, but…I think there was a lack of believability in the second
half which was due to the overly quirky character of the friend. I did believe
him when he said nothing of much importance and no real romantic relationships
had happened to him in the last 5 years. I didn’t believe him when he said he
was in love. Despite that this was an enjoyable play and I liked the ending a
lot.