Stage: The world needs one-star hotels

Blood Wedding
by Barney Norris, after Lorca
director Tricia Thorns
with Nell Williams, Alix Dunmore, Christopher Neenan, David Fielder, Esme Lonsdale, Kiefer Moriarty
set Alex Marker • costumes Carla Joy Evans
lighting Neill Brinkworth • sound Dominic Bilkey
Omnibus Theatre, Clapham • 30.Apr-24.May.25 ★★★★

Inventively reimagining Lorca's 1933 Spanish tragedy, Barney Norris sets the story in rural England as a pitch-black comedy. The naturalistic dialog and offhanded performances bring the characters to life over a series of scenes that ratchet up the intensity with a mix of humour, passion and poetic philosophy. It's strikingly involving, forcing the audience to grapple with the bigger issues right along with the people on-stage. And the intimacy of the Omnibus Theatre makes it riveting, aided by skilfully effective set, costumes, lighting and sound design.

In a small town in Wiltshire, Georgie (Williams) is preparing for her marriage to Rob (Neenan), a charmer who is four years younger. Rob's dubious mother Helen (Dunmore) arrives to help them secure a shabby community hall for their wedding reception, managed by the scruffy Brian (Fielder). As they speak, it becomes clear that Georgie is heading into this marriage as an escape from her frustrating life, having fallen out with her mother and lost her job. Then she runs into her old classmate Danni (Lonsdale), who is pregnant and has a baby boy with her husband Lee (Moriarty). But Georgie has a past with Lee, and they have lingering feelings for each other, expressed through brittle verbal jabs.

Shifting the setting like this is especially inventive because it manages to catch the zeitgeist of present-day Britain, with its mix of people who are happy with life as it comes and others who feel stuck in a dead-end routine, just hanging on without any real meaning. These ideas ripple up through pointed conversations that continually pull the audience in further, creating unusually complex characters who are easy to identify with. Each actor is excellent, with a particularly emotive turn from Dunmore and a show-stealing soliloquy by Fielder. Neenan and Moriarty have distinctly likeable personalities, even if Rob comes off as a bit cheerfully dim and Lee more coldly fatalistic. And Williams and Lonsdale find strong nuance as young women whose childhood friendship bends around them in an unusual circle. 

The overriding idea here is that, even in a place as out of the way as a Wiltshire village, the human experience has an epic sensibility, both for each person individually and for a wider community through the scope of history. In other words, there's always much, much more to people than meets the eye. Norris' writing is brilliantly incisive, using everyday conversation that bristles with witty banter and cuts to the underlying yearnings all of us feel about who we are and where we come from. There are also resonant comments about how life takes its own path, no matter what we try to do about it. And best of all, the play reminds us that everything is nicer with bunting. 

For info, OMNIBUS CLAPHAM >

photos by Phil Gammon • 2.May.25

Stage: Across the universe

Supernova

by Rhiannon Neads
dir Jessica Dromgoole
with Rhiannon Neads, Sam Swann
Omnibus Theatre, Clapham • 25.Apr-13.May.23

Exploring very deep themes with an unusually light touch, this two-person drama is strikingly well-written by Rhiannon Neads, and beautifully played by Neads with costar Sam Swann. It's a warm, funny and ultimately emotional romantic tale, and it's staged with an inventive charm that evokes a sense of the vast universe that surrounds the characters. Because one of the characters is dealing with depression in a complex way, it has a resonant impact.

During a fancy dress party, Harry (Swann) notices Tess (Neads) in her astronaut costume and starts a conversation. Their connection is quick, bonding over their mutual curiosity, and before they know it they're romantically involved. Their life together is deliriously happy, as they grow closer and create a life together. But Tess is dealing with clinical depression, and she is unable to express herself to Harry, who desperately wants to help her.

Sharp dialog keeps the story moving at a brisk pace, cleverly observing details in both the characters and the life they create as a couple. Scenes shift seamlessly into each other, revisiting motifs that range from galactic adventures to costume parties. Both Neads and Swann create strikingly vivid characters who are easy to identify with. Even when Tess' illness begins to cause problems between them, it's clear that her inner desires are at war with her actions. So Harry's helplessness becomes hugely sympathetic.

These are unusually complicated characters and situations, so it's particularly impressive that the script is able to maintain such a brightly humorous tone even as it delves under the surface. It helps that the staging is so bracingly simple, a white circle on the floor with outer-space flourishes and props placed in orbit around the action. Within this, the actors are able to use their physicality to express a range of scenarios that highlight the central issue without overstating anything. And since the script never preaches, this is a play that makes us see depression through a fresh perspective that's honest and also hopeful.

For details, visit CLAPHAM OMNIBUS >

photos by Jack Sain • 27.Apr.23