A review by Richard J Thornton for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Undeb Theatre presents
Written and directed by Alexander Vlahos
Produced by Francesca Moody
Out of Love is a charming three-hander set in a city suffering from three years of continuous anarchic rioting. Predictably, the flat in which the hour-long piece is set becomes a claustrophobic pressure-cooker, but what's attractively unpredictable is the eerie relationship between the three seemingly compatible personalities. Dano is the prodigal brother who younger brother Louis is surreptitiously trying to protect, while Louis's not-quite ex-girlfriend Julie begins to understand the complexity of the boy she wishes she didn't love. The boys' absent father provides a hierarchy which reveals the brothers' naivety and vulnerability, while Julie's apparent emotional indifference to the crisis on the streets is disappointedly unexplored. But even this criticism is a blessing in disguise, as rarely does a one-setting play about relationships impress enough to induce an audience to wish for more scenes.
This is a play which glides on the thin ice of melodrama: off-stage gun shots, high-minded rants about society and 'writer's-voice' debates about love all succeed due to under-burdened acting and intimate direction. Michael Cusick's off-key Received Pronunciation enhances his role as derailed older brother Dano; the difficultly in his speech suggests a mild autistic flavour which naturalises his itchy social interaction. Such creases may have been ironed out by an over-diligent director, but the pros of directing your own script are the spoils of Vlahos as his confidence in his own writing lets the actors find their niche.
Moments of high drama that could over-stretch the cosy White Bear hold their own via disciplined vocal escalation. Cusick and Westhorpe reach their screaming summit in perfect harmony with the script, subjecting the audience to banshee wails at the limits of their tolerance, but still within them, just how powerful theatre should do. Cusick also has that performative iridescence which debilitates an audience from being able to see him as an actor; he is so comfortable in the space that his interactions with the set and interlocutor are effortlessly habitual and graciously homely. Amy Downham's Julie is the most concretely human of the three and so provides the transport for the boys' souls to be expressed. This exchanged-based role Downham conquers with polite but distanced respect with Dano, and longing and intimate confusion with Louis, a combination which showcases her down-to-earth but distinctly feminine acting.
The script is brave. The inquisitive writer's-voice is paraded in plain view but cleverly softened and disguised by a naturalism in the actors which feel close to intuitive improv. It makes you want to roll your eyes at the blatant 'ideas-exposition' but your heart is so firmly engaged with the characters that your judgment is silenced. The dialogue is natural and tight, and despite the odd forced mystery (why doesn't Louis want Julie to know he has a brother?), it flows from the mundane to the philosophical with pleasurable elegance. One highlight is Dano's childlike reading of his favourite children's story about a bear who goes to the moon; the patience in the script and its lullaby effect shift Out of Love from being a young writer's play with potential into a measured dramatic artwork.
The combination of actor-managed lighting and tech ensured a deep focus on the setting - Julie's sprightly but laborious meta-theatrical switching on of lamps reminds the audience of the distinct aesthetic of the piece. This mild surrealism, paired with events such as Dano's drenched psychotic entry strike a balance with its human naturalism, an odd symbiotic relationship which demands a greater interest in the environment than you'd find in a soap, without losing the character obsessiveness that you'd find such a medium.
Strong actors and a risky but successful script paired with considered direction means Out of Love is a triumph which proves 21st century theatre doesn't need to be site specific, multi-mediaed, or, need to bark on about genocide to touch its audience and still feel new.
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