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by Debbie Tucker Green

Directed by Sacha Wares

Assistant Director Gbolahan Obisesan

The Jerwood Theatre downstairs

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The Royal Court Theatre

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7th March to 12th April

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uzens

A review by Marion Drew for EXTRA! EXTRA!

‘Random don’t happen to everybody.’

Except it did. To one family. On an otherwise ordinary day.

Debbie Tucker Green’s new play highlights the relationships between the four members of one family as they deal with personal tragedy.

The characters are all played by one actress, Nadine Marshall, who flits seamlessly from one to another, sister to brother, mother to father, to workmate, never skipping a beat. There has clearly been close collaboration between actress, director and writer here. This is a tightly contained performance; there is no movement around the stage, and no set. The audience is locked onto the actress in her stark spotlight throughout the full 50 minutes, forcing us to hone in on the emotions which travel from swanky humour to raw grief. But this is no meandering.

It is a stunning, tightly written and lyrically poetic script, with rhythms that weave the story through a snappy street-wise London English, the slow sweet patois of the Caribbean and the beat of teenage slang.

Debbie Tucker Green has a wonderful ear for detail in the nuanced world of language, deftly crafting the minutiae of daily life within the broader coherent framework.

‘Could this have been a radio play?’ was one question raised in the interesting after-show discussion session.

Definitely not, in my view. The visual presence of the storyteller brought a dimension to the script that placed it firmly in the realm of the theatrical. Small shifts in body stance, from the bravado of the adolescent male tilt of the head, to the quick dismissive gestures of the modern office girl, from the slower head-down movements of the wife and woman of the house to the gruff but kind-hearted white office colleague, brought each character intensely to life.
Nadine faced an epic challenge as an actress alone on stage, and she rose to it superbly. She had control throughout. Not only were we never in doubt as to who was who, but the context of the kitchen, the street, the school room were brought into the mind’s eye with effortless clarity, and ultimately clasped us close to the full range of emotions, love, familial closeness, distrust, horror, disbelief.

At first sight, this might seem a slight piece of theatre, but this one-act play is testament to the depths that can be plumbed in a short time through skilled writing and accomplished performance.

7th March to 12th April
Monday to Saturday 7.30pm

 Captioned performance Tuesday 8th April 7.30pm
Saturday matinees: 3pm
TICKETS: £15, £10. Mondays all seats £10, £10 conc.

Box Office: 0207565 5000
www.royalcourttheatre.com/booking

The Royal Court Theatre
Sloane Square, London SW1

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