REVIEWED: STAGES

‘Stages’ by Rowan Williams-Fletcher is an experimental physical theatre piece that deals with the loss of a family member and the following grief.  With this already being a difficult task, the production boldly attempts at adding to it the issues of coming to terms with one’s sexuality, fighting depression and struggling with self-harm.

Set in the World Heritage Centre, the stage space allows the audience to view the show from two opposite sides. With a table and a few chairs on one side of the stage and a provisional bed on the other, there arises a problem of setting the lighting. The four lights were placed next to the table, which completely distorted the spatial organisation of that part of the stage. At certain points the play was interrupted by alarm noises form outside the building, but apart from this, the production ran smoothly on a technical level.

The piece begins with Megan (Kirsten Lees) giving a monologue about her mother’s death and the subsequent family tragedy of coping with the loss. By not making it clear to whom she’s speaking to, and by being completely static, already the opening is quite monotonous. The lesbian attraction between Megan and Frankie (Ellen Milton) is the crucial relationship in the production and the two characters are clash of two problematic worlds, that of a loss of a beloved mother and that of depression. Whilst there is not much time committed to developing their relation, the only thing they seem to share is the mutual personal problems. We see them as one-dimensional characters, who are only defined by either having a dead mother or marks of self-injury. The sexy socks talk does not really help to create a backdrop for their connection. Their physicality and movements on stage are limited to a bare minimum, which in a piece that promotes itself as physical theatre is surprising. Moreover, the first time they kiss is while they are sitting in two separate chairs, making it all the more wooden and clumsy.

The physical theatre element of the show was mostly exposed in the sections when the audience was able to see the characters involved in their own activities, whilst background music was playing. With the choice of Florence and the Machine’s ‘Dog Days are Over’, the music seemed a bit out of place and only adding perplexity to the already confusing plot. Whilst the performance deals with difficult issues and is so full of anger, frustration, pain and misery, the chosen song does not seem to accompany that and neither does it offer a way of solving these issues.

What the piece struggled most with is the ability to engage the audience. The characters seemed to have been so absorbed in their own world and problems simply stereotyping themselves with terms like ‘gay’ or ‘depressed’ without offering any input in creating their personalities for the audience to find unique or relatable. For example, the sock puppet game between Megan and Joshy (Russell Park) was in no way stimulating or appealing to the audience. The show lacked more moments similar to the one where Joshy shows his drawings. His monologue is touching and through the use of drawings the audience can, apart from hearing what he says, have visual access to his imagination and memory. Connie Byrne-Shore as Danny also offered a convincing performance. Her crying scene had a strong credibility with her anger being naturalistically toned.

Personally, I couldn’t see ‘Stages’ as a unified and holistic piece, which created a puzzled and confusing effect on me. The show definitely attempts at a very difficult task, but unfortunately by dealing with big and bold terms, it loses the appeal of the individual.