Forceful writing the key to a great performance
A domestic drama is ideally suited to the dark confines of the upstairs theatre at Preston’s newest performance space.
The audience are so close to the cast for In a Land Much Like Ours that it would be possible to pass them a handkerchief - for their tears - without even leaving your seat!
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Hide AdThe grief is tangible and intimacy and immediacy are easily achieved in such a suitable setting.
Jane (Laura Lindsay) and David (Andrew Roberts-Palmer) are mourning the killing of their daughter, but coping with its aftermath in very different, and probably gender-stereotypical ways.
In the midst of all their grief however is a third character – Richard (Adam Urey) the child’s killer, a disembodied being with whom Jane ‘converses’ while David attempts a more detached analysis of the man’s motives.
It is an intense and complex piece of theatre, that sometimes feels a little too hemmed-in, not least by its studio setting, and certainly by its 60-minute running time.
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Hide AdA little more time is needed to understand character motivation, or to absorb the folk legend of Jack the Giant Killer that is cleverly threaded through the narrative.
Writer Rob Johnston – whose Einstein’s Daughter was performed at the Continental in Preston last year – again demonstrates a skilful ability to construct instantly-plausible characters and give them humane and articulate life.
The performances are equally measured, especially that of Lindsay, harbouring the brittle grief of a mother.
Director Sam Buist manages it all with distinction, particularly as he has launched this Korova venue, and the forthcoming Preston Tringe theatre festival, all at the same time.
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Hide AdA minimal amount of props, which suggest children’s over-sized building bricks, juxtaposed with actual infant toys, play with the story’s sense of scale and prove its author has the ability to up-size such forceful writing.
David Upton