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Icarus Theatre Collective
Rip Her to Shreds
by Grant Corr
Director: Max Lewendel
Old Red Lion Theatre
16 March – 3 April 2010
A review by Alun Evans for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Rip Her to Shreds, written by Grant Corr, focuses on Davy “D” Harrison, a seventeen year old transsexual growing up in the stifling environment of Mena Town, a small parochial town in Northern Ireland. The play is set in the further suffocating period of 1981, and deals with alienation, discrimination and the search for identity (sexual and otherwise). The set was a low-key affair, a couple of benches and floorspace/“mattress room”, with giant Blondie and Siouxsie and The Banshees posters pasted across the black walls. This space was ably choreographed to maximise the limitations of the area, and indeed this minimalism and lack of space added to the intimate involvement of the audience (I sat in the front row, the performers literally inches away – I even moved my legs back at one point for fear of tripping them up mid-scene). Performance-wise, the parents of D were played brilliantly. His mother Joan (Teresa Jennings) was performed with a taut, threatening-to-break-at-any-moment humour that helped balance the fundamental seriousness/horror at the heart of many of the scenes. The father (Francis Adams), a recovering alcoholic who's found religion, was played with equal skill as a strong, zealous character; a masculine presence at odds with, totally bewildered by, but still passively affectionate towards the effeminate nature of D. Special mention must go to Rowan Finnegan, who played Keenan. This dubious character, the suave love interest of both D and his best-friend Brenda (Siobhan Fanning), was portrayed with an interesting, alternate mix of charismatic gentleness and convincing savagery - an authentic testimonial to how young impressionable people can become manipulated by these types of character. The protagonist D, though lacking somewhat in Keenan's charisma, was ably played by Tom Read Wilson. With a convincing fragility and naive sensitivity/timidity, Wilson provokes sympathy for the gradually descending predicament of his character. He truly makes the audience feel for his plight. One thing that did detract somewhat from the realism of D's situation was the dialogue of the character. In some parts of the play, D would resort to a pseudo-poetic type of speech in order to articulate how he's feeling. It was unclear whether this speech is deliberately used to highlight the naivety of D in the face of his encroaching adulthood, or as an example of his uniqueness in the dull, grey atmosphere of Mena Town. This uncertainty of characterisation, which added a note of pretension to D's character, left me a little confused as to why it had been included in the script. A notable stylistic technique in Rip Her to Shreds was the inter-lapping of various scenes. This was used when the scenes contained sex/sexual violence. As these scenes continued to play out in the background, D's parents would take centre-stage. D's father would begin reading from the bible to the audience, as if preaching to a congregation. This technique worked well in recreating the violence of the scene into something more poetic. Though conversely, by transferring the realism of the piece onto a more lyrical, artistically-centred plain, it also lessened the visceral impact of the violent scenes, which doesn't seem totally in keeping with the Icarus Theatre's artistic policy. Namely, that: “Tales of mutilation, rape, and incest are not anathema to us, rather we choose to relish what others shy away from”. In Rip Her to Shreds, Grant Corrand Max Lewendel (the Artistic Director) have managed to create an engaging, and at times harrowing, tale of a character who is unique, precisely because he is not willing to compromise. For Corr, “The world we live in is a richer and better place because of these people.” I would be inclined to agree. The play's subject matter is as relevant today as its setting over thirty years ago. If you want to watch a modern play that is challenging, highly-charged and very well-acted, Rip Her to Shreds runs until the 3rd April at the Old Red Lion Theatre.
Box Office Phone Number: 020 7837 7816 Website: www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk Old Red Lion Theatre Ticketing Info: £13 (free programme with ticket), £10 concessions, Sat: all tickets £13, Tues: all Tickets £9, Weds: all tickets £10
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