BUCKLE FOR DUST
presents:

COTTON WOOL

Written by Ali Taylor

Directed by Lisa Spirling

THEATRE 503

1 – 26 April 08

Couzens

A review by Amber Gregory for EXTRA! EXTRA!

Callum and Gussie have just left their mammy’s funeral and they’re ‘pished’. Drinking and mourning by the Scottish coast they see something in the sea…something that looks familiar… or do they? This is a play about waiting, waiting for something that may well not be there. Callum, at 18 is two years older than his little brother Gussie, and he will do anything to protect him. Callum has big plans for them- get to London, get jobs in the catering industry, make lots of money, and have a great group of friends, to be seen as ‘normal’ for a change. Gussie however, isn’t going anywhere, he is going to keep going back to the beach, and wait for ‘it’ to get closer. For his brother Callum will do anything, so the waiting begins.

To not become too Waiting for Godot, Harriet comes along to jazz things up. Goth, rocker, teenager, however you choose to see her, she too feels as though she is ‘different’. On a hopeless dead end mission of her own she and Callum begin to get closer, much to the disgust of Gussie, as he did ‘see her first’ and cannot bear to have his brothers attention on anyone else. And there is still that ‘thing’ in the water…

The relationship between the two brothers is acted beautifully by Joseph Arkley and Owen Whitelaw. Whitelaw’s performance as Gussie shows an erratic boy not accepting the death of his mother, and determined never to lose his big brother. Arkley particularly begins to come to life as Callum when teamed with Victoria Bavister who plays Harriet. Here we see a boy who has grown up too quickly, but is still naïve in so many ways, and Harriet is there to guide him through the challenges of growing up- even though she herself is lost.

Director Lisa Spirling has created a haunting piece of theatre, as the character driven play often turns to the mystical as the boys go to the beach everyday waiting upon a fairytale that will never truly come. The lighting and sound designers have clearly worked closely together to create a bleak, spooky atmosphere. The sounds of the sea, the chirping of the birds, the crashing waves getting louder. The lighting is a stark blue and grey. The only time this lighting softens is when Callum and Harriet are together, this is a relationship which has no hard edges.The composition, the music, is used to symbolise the fairytale aspects of this story- a twisted fairytale, as the basic chords begin to clash and whine.

The most magical sequence in the play comes at the end when Gussie gives a monologue so touching, so trippy, that it has the power to send shivers down your spine. At this stage the performance shows some Women in Black elements which are done extremely subtly thanks to the magic of gauze and lighting. We, the audience, are in the midst of a disturbing, messy, unreal world, which at the same time is far too real - and it is only beautiful writing, directing, acting, sound and lighting that together, has the power to create such a world through theatre, and when that happens, a performance can feel utterly miraculous.

This is a play about family, first love and letting go. Yet it is all these things without seeming cliché or obvious, and this is due to the element of fairytale in the play. Life is not always black and white, nor is it always colourful- however, in our own minds it can often be mystical.

Victoria Bavister (Harriet), Owen Whitelaw (Gussie) and Joseph Arkley (Callum)

Photo by Hugh Macdonald.

Tues-Sat @ 8.00pm, Sun @ 5.00pm

Tickets: £13 (£8 concs.)Tuesdays: Pay What You Can

Box Office: 020 7978 7040

www.theatre503.com

Theatre503,The Latchmere Pub,
503 Battersea Park Road,
London, SW11 3BW

Nearest Tube:
Sloane Square then bus 319
South Kensington then bus 49 or 345

Nearest Rail:
Clapham Junction (from Victoria or Waterloo)
then 10min walk / bus 49, 319, 344, 345

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