Jennifer Lusk’s new piece of writing is a one-woman show recalling a time in the Second World War when a young nurse had a photograph taken of her in an underground station by a stranger. And there’s not a lot more to it than that. Her reminiscing has little to no hook or narrative drive and it takes a long chunk of the running time before anything is revealed about the significance of that photograph - and even then I found myself struggling to understand what had just been revealed. Beyond that, it is a period piece describing life in the war, but no details are brought up that really stick in one’s mind or challenge the commonplace of war stories. There are no vivid characters to hang onto and the whole thing is frankly a little worthy and dull.
Lusk herself is a capable performer, but I didn’t feel much for her character, partly because no depths were revealed beyond her exhaustion and frustration at her nursing job, and partly because she sometimes falls short of making the time and place where the play is set come alive. As for the mysterious stranger who takes her photograph, if he is a fascinating character then why don’t we hear anything about him? If there’s a character worth knowing about in a play, I’d rather just know about him; an enigma with a few tantalising clues is not enough to sustain an audience’s interest.
This is meant to be ‘poetic’ storytelling, but no particular bits of poetry stand out. Phrases such as ‘like a wild horse tempted by an apple’ and ‘broke a tiny piece of my heart’ are too overwrought and clichéd for what is a pretty low-key piece. And the photographs projected onto the back wall are too literal and obtrusive for the style of storytelling selected. It is a nice enough bit of storytelling in its way, but Lusk needs to do a lot of work on telling stories in ways that demand to be heard – as it is I’m not sure why this story needed to be told.
