Reviews from Have I No Mouth and Long Live the Little Knife.
What is real and what is fake? Theatre can be the great artistic microscope, allowing audiences to watch an artificially created world in order to feel real emotions or to watch portrayals of real people but depicted by imposters (better known here as actors).
The Traverse has two shows that take the concept of fakery versus reality and runs rampant.
First, Have I No Mouth (***) is a production that forces the audience to ask: what is theatre? The production gives us three players: mother, son and psychotherapist. Mother and son are still trying to come to terms with the death of Sean, the family’s patriarch. They re-enact moments from their lives, confer on memories and go through mental exercises with their therapist.
What is rather remarkable is that we are watching reality. These are not actors but a real-life mother and son speaking truthfully about their actual losses, and they are in fact sharing the stage with their therapist. All of this does beg the question: what are we watching? Are we watching two people actively coming to terms with loss through theatre, or are we watching two people who have already come to terms with their grief and are sharing the process they went through via the stage? It isn’t quite clear, and at times the production feels like we the audience are intruding rather than merely watching.
None of this makes the production any less fascinating or heartfelt. There is no denying the truth the three portray, particularly in the small tender moments between mother and son. In the end, we are presented with a living work of art which allows the audience to embark on a real-life emotional journey with those truly involved, resulting in a production that might cut to the bone too much but still feels like a rewarding venture.
Art is at the heart of David Leddy’s most recent work, Long Live the Little Knife (***). Again, the audience are actively questioned about what they are witnessing. The stage has paint-splattered sheets stretched about the whole space, including the seats, and large work lights have been installed, giving the performing space an almost claustrophobic feeling. Two actors tell us that they will present a story about real people in the forgery business and have the assistance of their stage manager, who isn’t a ‘real’ actor but will be voicing the ‘actual’ questions director David Leddy posed to the real couple.
Within seconds, the stage is set for a play that is all about the world of illusion and false realities told in the guise of a heist story. Like all great heist yarns, the plot is filled with false leads, double and triple crosses and sleight-of-hand techniques meant to keep one guessing until the final moment. And as a heist story, the play works rather well: it is fun, makes some brave choices and has a few good twists.
In looking for actual substance within the play, things start to unravel. As it’s is all about deception, it’s hard finding much depth. The end does go into bleak territory, but the horror of that final destination is almost glossed over, which feels like a cheat.
However, the play does contain two aces: actors Neil McCormack and Wendy Seager. Playing the multiple characters with ease, they have a great chemistry together, particularly when playing the main two characters, both of whom make a far better married couple than partners in crime.
The final result is a production that isn’t necessarily great, even though it is great fun.
Have I No Mouth and Long Live the Little Knife perform at the Traverse Theatre until August 25 (not Mondays). Times alternate.
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