Written by Daisy Thurston-Gent (@daisytgpoetry)
Ovalhouse Theatre, London
**
Your Place Or Mine is the latest project undertaken
by Tim Redfern and David Sheppeard that takes place in the Café Gallery of the
Ovalhouse Theatre. The short piece explores the difficulties that two
colleagues face when attempting to downsize an archive, discussing what makes a
history worth saving.
The text is interesting enough, although the overall
performances given by Redfern and Sheppeard lacks depth, meaning that the execution
of some lines feels underdeveloped and flat in the central scenes. Conversations
between the pair regarding the Turning archive are arguably the most important
plot-wise but are certainly not the most engaging; the various characters being
played by the two men need more substance for the audience to differentiate
between them in the quick changing scenes. Of most interest are the sections of
telephone transcription where Redfern and Sheppeard both perform convincingly,
establishing the distance needed to make this particular conversation
believable. In these sections their individual characters seem much more
detailed and both members of the pair are equally strong, confident in their
vocal delivery. The actors’ focus throughout these sections is what carries the
piece and when re-evaluating their progress Redfern and Sheppeard should be
attentive to these strengths and extend this level of consideration to the rest
of the script.
As the piece flits between
conversations so rapidly, albeit keeping the play tight, there is still space
for development and sometimes scenes feel undernourished, leaving the
prospective audience eager for more insight. The pair explore some
sophisticated ideas but the piece is let down by a general lack of direction
which is something that will need more attention if the piece is to be extended
and developed further. Furthermore, the stage of progress for the piece as a
presented whole was unclear; while there appears to have been thought given to
lighting and set design, the performances themselves felt inadequate. The stage
is cluttered with props that invite the audience into the archive made in the
humble space of the Ovalhouse Café Gallery and there is sufficient
consideration given to the lighting design in order to transport the audience
between scenes, however, given that the performers still have scripts in hand, props
become problematic at times, and contribute to some clunky acting. Once again
the attention to detail is half-hearted - the boxes are noticeably empty and so
the sense of urgency with the possibility of this archive being totally erased is
lost.
Your Place Or Mine sets out to explore some strong
issues but doesn’t quite lead anywhere, which is disappointing. The extract
presented feels very much like an opening section to a longer piece, but this
is not made clear. Thirty minutes is certainly long enough for a script to
accomplish a sense of direction, yet Your Place Or Mine would benefit
from being extended in order to play out certain scenes of interest. The piece
is still very much in the rehearsal process but there are plenty of interesting
ideas to flesh out from this presentation of new material as its artistic
process continues.
This production runs until 2 March 2013.
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