Making your professional debut as a playwright, is a nerve-racking experience, but Nina Fuentes can set aside any doubts or fears following the rapturous reception that the premiere of
A highly rewarding, no-frills gem of rock-solid theatre
Sensitely directed by Robert Monaghan, the play is an enchanting and captivating work. Dialogue and inner monologues flow from one moment to the next, raising issues in a burgeoning relationship that explores the delights and dramas of forming a loving attachment to someone.
Maya (Anna Hewitt) and James (George Prentice) are two successful young professionals who bump into each other each evening on their commute from a day at the office. The open casting resulted in the perfect pairing of these two actors and in so-doing created a couple who are so well-suited to each other and so abundantly at ease in each other’s company, it's hard not to imagine that they have known each other for years and that they are a couple in real life. They are not; they just seem made for each other. That appearance is explored in the tightly woven, 60-minute story.
Initially they do not speak to each other. Instead we hear their thoughts as they awkwardly look at each other. Fuentes cleverly suggests a bond as words from a line spoken by Maya that express her thoughts or feelings will be repeated by James as an introduction to what he wishes to say, and vice-versa. It’s a highly effective device that provides momentum and identification with the other party. Eventually the ice is broken and they come together and Maya moves in with James. But this is not a happily ever after story.
Both actors give highly accomplished. impasioned performances and are a joy to watch as they travel the emotional path of a testing romance that faces an array of challenges, tragedies and personal decisions that lead to deep-rooted questionings of their relationship. The remarkable chemistry that exists between them is exploited in heartfelt exchanges that test their characters' co-existence.
The stark simplicity of the set keeps us focussed on the couple. The lone, white park bench provides seating on the station platform, a place from which to admire the views across London from Primrose HIll and Hampstead Heath and when draped in blue cloth a sofa for homely relaxation.
Fuentes, Monaghan, Hewitt and Prentice along with the production team of associate artist, AD and co-producer Luis Hopkins and technician Alicia Quah have created a highly rewarding, no-frills gem of rock-solid theatre.
