Review: ‘Green Eyes’ and ‘The Universal Language’

Green Eyes

Tennessee Williams’ Green Eyes is set in the honeymoon suite of unhappy newlyweds, Mr and Mrs Claude Dunphy. As the title may suggest, it deals with sexual jealousy, alongside addiction and poverty. Mrs Claude (Isabelle Thibault) wakes up with scratches all over her back from a night of passion. Mr Claude (Mark Tomlinson) says they are not from him and demands an explanation. Miss Claude says he was too drunk to remember administering the scratches himself, and so on and so forth. This couple can’t even agree on what they see outside of a window (‘it’s not a yard, it’s a patio’), and it is never, even by the end of the play, clear why they have eloped, and where these mystery scratch marks have originated from. The piece is simply a snapshot of a relationship stuck in a rut.

The set worked well to emulate the dull lethargic circularity of the scene. Their bedroom was messy, dark, and hopeless-looking, and was complemented by the cast’s deadpan deliveries, interrupted only by outbursts of shouting. The actors showed great levels of emotional maturity in their approaches, Thibault drawing out Mrs Claude’s bleakness and Tomlinson Mr Claude’s paranoia. However, more experimentation with movement and pace could have been beneficial. For instance, when Miss Claude tells the story the piece has been building itself up to, more energy is needed than what was given. Whether it is true or not, the very telling of it is an act of malice, and she needs to be subsequently angry or sadistically happy or even hysterical when telling it, instead of using the same dull and lethargic style as before. Tomlinson also didn’t seem to know quite how to react to it. This lack of conviction also shaped the actors’ physical interactions, which didn’t quite seem comfortable enough to demonstrate either passion or violence. Each time Thibault was grabbed I was aware that I was supposed to feel scared for her wellbeing, and wasn’t. Although, having said this the cast and production team do have undoubted potential, and this is still a show worth seeing.

The Universal Language

The Universal Language too features a man and a woman who are struggling to communicate. Only this time it is purely linguistic. A man with a stutter walks into a classroom in an unspecified country, to be greeted by a woman talking gibberish. After much confusion it turns out that she is teaching him a ‘universal language’, which comprises of everything from Afrikaans to Italian to ‘John Cleese’, (English). That’s all I’ll say of the plot, for now, as much of the joy of watching it is in having no idea where it is going. All you need to know is that hilarity well and truly ensues.

This last offering of the Fresher plays is a very funny and a very odd piece that has been directed impeccably. It makes you laugh with its silliness, its farcical misunderstandings and wordplay, then it works itself up to moments where the emotion between the two characters is palpable – only to plunge back into even sillier silliness. These kinds of dramatic switches should only be attempted by a cast with great comic timing and natural on-stage chemistry, which Sandra Koronkai-Kiss and Vincent Foster undeniably had. Foster made an adorable ‘straight guy’ to Koronkai-Kiss’ eloquent and charming mischief. Foster’s stories about how his stutter had affected his character’s life actually generated coos and ‘ahs’ from the audience which were just discernible amidst the uproarious laughter provoked by Koronkai-Kiss.

One thing which had evidently not been lost in translation was comedy.

Make your way to the Barron for 7.30pm. For £3 this night of one-acts is money well spent.