Under The Ladder is a piece of theatre that works on many levels, yet is seemingly based on a simple concept. A group of village actors are preparing for their performance of Hamlet, but as rehearsals go from bad to worse, a series of superstitious events take hold of the performers one by one. But it is the final twist of the story that surprises you. Although not an original idea, it is certainly extremely well played out right to the end.
The professional cast complement each other well. As the mystery thickens, so do the complexities of each of the characters. What was most pleasing was the cast’s ability to carve out their own individual, distinctive characters under the framework of preparing for this Shakespeare play.
Frances (Kelly Byrne) is the first to see a figure under a ladder. Frances looks brilliantly spooked, while her friend Elizabeth (Beth Kenney), who plays the bolshy, disinterested actor, passes it off as an attempt by Frances at bunking from rehearsals, not realising that she wasn’t making it up. Alex Bennett, who plays Harry, put in a superbly rich Shakespearean performance, while the long-suffering director Diane (Ayesha Nightingale) was played convincingly.
One of the most powerful performances was by Charlotte Handley, who plays Olivia, as she turns to sheer madness, seemingly possessed by some strange force. She glares out into the audience while clutching a mirror on the village hall stage (a sure hint that bad things are about to happen).Everyone from the Z Theatre Company deserves a pat on the back for this superb piece of theatre.
The themes of the show are intense and question the ways in which we believe in things. Do you need to see something to believe it? There is always more than meets the eye, but it is not always what you might expect. Our perceptions of things we don’t comprehend can change and be influenced by those around us; here we witness an crisis that unfolds among the ‘cast’, cleverly intertwined with some of Shakespeare's finest words.
A Fringe triumph for a young company. To be or not to be? Well, seeing it really is believing it.
