Review: Vagrant

‘Vagrant’ is a new play written (and directed) by Alex Darby in which Oxford finalist Lara donates all her money to Oxfam and rejects her family and comfortable lifestyle in an attempt to commit to being homeless – a novel solution to middle-class guilt.

The character of Lara (Eliza Easton) is so close to home you will inevitably search for realism in Easton’s performance, and feel slightly annoyed by anything else.

However, be warned of letting any such dissatisfaction with the character turn into a criticism of the writing or its ‘message’, for it becomes clearer in the exchange of Lara’s shallowly proclaimed social angst and her sister’s (Bridget Dru) excruciating justifications of their entitlement to balls and fancy dinners, that these two characters are probably meant to be as bad as each other.

For a play that tackles pain, loss and homelessness, the fact that the only real traces of pain I felt came from the characters of Tracy (Zoe Bullock) and Ivan (Barney Fishwick), where both actors gave great performances, is perhaps an instruction on the superficiality of Lara’s foray into living rough.

Images by TM Photography

That said, there were still a few unconvincing moments in the play that it would be harder to attribute to ‘the writer or director’s intention’.

The relationship between the sisters is particularly lacking, and Lara’s dialogue with the other characters often washes over you without any impact.

I don’t want to attribute fault to a particular aspect of the production but surely something is amiss when a girl allows herself to be sexually exploited, in order to remain homeless, and you don’t feel particularly bothered to contemplate what’s going on inside her head.

What does stand out in this production is the combination of the ‘interviews’ of the homeless characters with the physical narration of the monologues.

It is here Darby’s writing was at its best. This depiction of homelessness was far from patronising or sensational, and all the actors raised their game accordingly.

Nevertheless, I felt that the production did not reconcile the loss incurred to the actors of not being able to actually speak these monologues (they were played as recordings) with the braving of this option – perhaps making the choreography a little more visceral or intricate would have helped to do so.

Restraining the actors to just their expressions and relying on the choreography to do most of the work was asking too much of the physical element.

There was something wanting from Tuesday’s performance of ‘Vagrant’, but does not prevent it from being an interesting and watchable piece. As appears to be the trend with our recent theatre reviews, the production ought to be respected and recognised despite any first-night shortcomings for its efforts to do something a bit different.

It should serve to provide inspiration for any other productions wishing to try something new.