Bryony Lavery’s
A wonderfully imaginative staging of a challenging text
Director James Haddrell, along with a highly talented team of creatives and a well-chosen cast, has risen to the occasion,with a wonderfully imaginative staging of a challenging text. Having decided to use the revolve, designer Alex Milledge has divided it into two halves with a translucent partition along its diameter. One half is the home of Nancy (Kerrie Taylor), who is initially engaged in her garden. She believes that her ten-year-old daughter Rhona has disappeared and will be found or return, particularly as her birthday is approaching and missing people often turn up on that occasion. As the set rotates we meet Ralph (James Bradshaw) and discover that there is no chance of Rhona ever returning. Behind him we see Nancy through the screen continuing her daily routines, a device that powerfully reminds us that these stories are being told contemporaneously and that life goes on for both of them.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Agnetha (Indra Ové) is preparing for the dreaded prospect of a flight to meet with Ralph and Nancy. Her first two scenes are cleverly staged in the auditorium; initially making the aisle her home and then a seat in the stalls her place on the plane. When she arrives her office is to the side of the stage. As an accomplished criminal psychologist she is heavily invested in exploring and explaining Ralph’s mind and in examining the effects of the situation on Nancy and how she relates to Ralph.
Much of Act I consists of monologues, with the three characters isolated from each other as they bring aspects of their lives into the public domain. Taylor captures the many emotional states through which Nancy passes. She potters around her garden believing all will be well; laments the loss with anguished rage; grapples with trying to understand what has happened and finally contemplates forgiveness as a way of moving forward. Bradshaw’s performance is a fascinating portrayal of a man who has never known normality as most of us would understand it, yet sees himself as nothing out of the ordinary. Beaten and abused by stepfathers and thrown in the sink by his complicit mother, he has a treasured collection of child pornography, about which he boasts and protests that the only thing wrong with killing children is that the law makes it illegal. This is his personal normal and Bradshaw portrays it with calm rationality, with no hint of the vicious acts he is capable of committing, until towards the end when the emotions break through and he has to reconcile himself to what he has done and choose a way forward or out of his chosen life.
Ové faces a different challenge. She vividly reveals Agnetha’s emotional distress at the loss of a lifetime friend. However, the script gives her pages of analytical lecture material to deliver on the criminal brain, which is interesting but despite being delivered with academic verve tends to be too much information. What she grasps are the manners and tones for dealing with both a bereaved serial child killer.
Lighting Designer Henry Slater and Sound Design Liam McDermott both do an outstanding job in heightening moods and providing symbolic and at times startling visuals and effects, revealing the extent to which this demanding production is a team effort.
